[Savage Worlds] The Winter War Campaign, Session 1: Five Minutes to Live

The PCs started all together in the same jail cell in the City of Gath in the middle of the no-man's land of the Southern Freeholds. For a variety of reasons, they were incarcerated: Joe had been involved in a brawl. McFee was caught in a police sweep and held, forgotten in the cells. Sir Aerik was there as a result of a "mild" family disagreement. Father Ashley for public drunkenness. Edwin for insubordination and desertion. Keldon for theft and Rick for brawling. Nostro was thrown in for conspiracy.

The PCs had spent a number of months, most of the summer, in the cell. As fall came, the tenor of the jail changed. The hard cases (murderers, rapist, etc.) were all taken out, hung and their bodies burned.

The one friendly guard to them told them that the rules had changed, since the Kings of the Iron Crown had come. They were taken to the Hall of Justice and given a less-than-5-minute trial, all resulting in a sentence of death, to be carried out immediately.

The PCs were loaded onto a wagon and taken out of the city, to a desolate hill with a hangman's gibbet and an unlit pyre. The sergeant unloaded them from the cart and announced that they had been charged and found guilty and the City of Gath had every right to hang them on that gibbet right now.

They were given a chance, however. If they continued the fight against the Kings of the Iron Crown and their necromancer's allies during the winter (and managed to survive), then they would receive a full pardon. As expected, the PCs decided to take that chance.

Their friendly guard reloaded them onto the wagon (still in chains) and took them farther out, where a donkey and cart, loaded with what little supplies the City could spare, as well as the PCs own equipment, awaited them.

The guard expressed that they will be hung if found as bandits or if they attempt to flee the area (the rest of the Southern Freeholds had their descriptions). If spring comes and they're alive and fighting on the right side, then they'll be free. He left them there and went back to Gath.

The PCs decided to head out immediately and find shelter. The snows hadn't come in yet but were expected soon. They were attacked by zombie dogs and the fight was deadly - Father Ashley used his holy power to destroy many of them and the rest of the PCs took care of the rest.

Sir Aerik knew of a farm nearby and they went there. The farm turned out to be occupied by troops from one of the Kings of the Iron Crown, a group called Malarkey's Crew (they knew that Malarkey had been killed a few months before, but had no idea who was running the band).

A quick fight later - with Joe fighting four bandits at once, Nostro cleaning up with his magic, McFee tripping and pinning a bandit to the ground with his twin swords, and Edwin shooting a fleeing bandit in the back - they took the farm. The bandits had some good equipment, as well as horses, longswords and longbows. There was food still in the fields and they spent some time collecting that as well. The next week, they spotted an undead force heading towards the farm.

A cloaked figure on an undead skeleton horse lead a group of zombies and a gigantic spider against the farm. The initial volley of missile fire scored some minor hits on the spider but Sir Aerik succeeded in slaying the monster with an excellent bow shot. The PCs then retreated into the defensible house, closing the shutters and laying in wait for the zombie hordes. The enemy fired the barn and the outbuildings, as well as the remaining unpicked fields and the zombies attacked. The melee was over fairly quick but when the PCs emerged from the house to put out the barn and save the horses, the mysterious rider and the corpse of the gigantic spider were gone!

The session ended with a fire fighting action and the horses were saved as well as most of the grain they had harvested.

Next session: The Smugglers' Cave!

[Resource] Corpse Road

A Corpse Road was a pathway to the cemetery, often an official processional that was used. Sometimes called bier roads, coffin roads, lych way or corpse way (among others), their physical presence created a body of folklore around them, all associated with death and the dead - spirits, ghosts and various other undead were 'tuned' to the road.

The lych way ended in the cemetery and often had the same status, a place where the dead pass. The rules that the spirit world went by included having a straight path for the dead, because curves or tangles (or even obstructions) confuse and stymie the dead (something that wasn't considered a good thing).

Few corpse roads still exist (or are known as such) but they would be an interesting bit in a game, adding more of a death ritual to games filled with the drama of conflict and the dead.

[Atomic Thursday] Nuclear Fission and the Atomic Bomb

[Quotes] Mary, Queen of Scots

"No more tears now; I will think upon revenge"
- Mary, Queen of Scots

[1938] Mutiny in the Royal Navy

The history of the Royal Navy in the 1930s was fraught with drama. For two days in September 1931, Royal Naval ships were in full mutiny at Invergordon, Scotland. It was over pay and, while polite (mostly) to the officers, several ships worth of men refused to follow orders.

This occurred a full 5 years before the state we find ourselves in and my belief that the situation wouldn't have changed much in less than a decade. With the appointment of Mosley and the fracture of the Empire, the Royal Navy, for the most part, went anti-Fascist, most actually Red. The majority of ships mutinied and Royalist officers were seized and put in the brig.

There were few engagements between the pro- and anti-Royalist navies until mid-1938. The HMS Dorsetshire and the HMS Cornwall supported the Liverpool Free State and the Isle of Man. Mosley ordered the nearest loyal naval vessel, the HMS Hood, as well as the Royal Air Force to break that support. Ironically, on May 1st, Fascist and Royalist forces attacked both ships, with the Hood starting a bombardment and the RAF attacking from above. By the end of the fighting, the Dorsetshire and the Cornwall were still afloat (the Cornwall took extensive damage) but the Hood was sunk, with a loss of over 1000 men.

Before this time, rival ships had been simply content to "pass in the night." With the direct attack by a Royalist ship, the shooting war between the different naval forces began in earnest. Newspapers on both sides of the conflict used the sinking of the Hood and the loss of life to paint the other side as the aggressors and their side was true. The true news, however, was that the Royal Navy, a military tradition since the 16th century, had reached its nadir.

[Vids] Keen Eddie

"Hi, I'm Eddie...how do you like me so far?"

Only 13 original episodes of Keen Eddie were aired in 2003 on Fox. I remember watching the first few but then missed the rest. To my loss. So I picked up the beginning/ending season from Netflix to see them all.

It's not bad - typical fish out of water, brash police show, with that London fun. The beautiful (and pre-famous I believe) Sienna Miller was the lust interest Fiona Bickerton while NYPD Detective Eddie Arlette was played by Mark Valley. The cast was rounded out with New Scotland Yard Inspector Monty Pippin (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and Superintendent Nathanial Johnson (Colin Salmon). Humor came in the form of the angry Bull Terrier named Pete and Rudy Alexander, a failed actor (Alexei Sayle).

I really enjoyed this short-lived series and can see many things about it that would be really good for a modern London campaign. Or even just a cop-show game. I'll see what I can do about that, then.

[Savage Worlds] The Winter War Campaign, Background

The Annals of the Winter War

"The events of the winter of 951-952ia (1), known collectively as the Winter War, begins not at the first frost, but a full 9 months prior. The Kings of the Iron Crown (2), with their Necromancer allies (3), invaded the Southern Freeholds two weeks before the Spring thaw, in Latewinter (4), 951ia. They gained ground steadily over the course of the Spring, taking five major cities, numerous towns and manors, and uncounted villages by Vernal.


The Southern Freeholds were in desperate straights and called to their most friendly neighbors, the Northern Kingdom, for relief. Troops, funds, and, more importantly, the Knights of Iridia streamed south, halting the advance by the end of Planting . For the next four months, from Flowers to Leaffall, the battles raged across the Southern Freeholds, with neither party gaining nor holding much ground.


The Kings of the Iron Crown were wily but when faced with the strength and resolve of the Knights of Iridia, they often fell back. But there were many places along the battle lines where there were no knights, and so they made advances in some parts while losing in others.


The introduction of the undead on the invaders' side in Flowers, 951ia, changed the tide for a time. Undead, previously unknown to the people of both Northern Kingdom and the Southern Freeholds, had a terrifying effect - once staunch allies who fell in battle returned the next day to fight against their former comrades - that was horrific as well as demoralizing.


Again, in the face of these overwhelming odds, the Knights of Iridia rallied the defenders of the Freeholds and fought both living and dead enemy at all opportunities. The brief advances the Kings of the Iron Crown gained in Flowers, with their undead creature "Zombies" and "Skeletons" (5), faltered in Summertide and the battles raged all the more fiercely.


Not only were the defenders fighting for their lives, lands and peoples, they were also fighting for their eternal rest with the goddess Iridia. It became common practice to burn the dead (6), all the dead from both sides, rather than leave them as fodder for the necromancers.


At the end of the fighting season, the battle lines stretched all across the Southern Freeholds, from the Ashford Mountains to the shores of vast Lake Betian. Fifty miles north and south of this line was a no man's land of ruined villages, bloody battlefields and burned farms. The few Freehold cities that remained free were depopulated as the armies of the Northern Kingdom, including many Knights of Iridia, marched home for winter quarters in Autumnal. Some northerners remained behind for a variety of reasons - local loves, desire for gain, in gaol, out of faith or revenge, to name a few - and mixed with refugees from the occupied Freeholds. It left many of the cities in quite a state.


Cities and towns completely turned out their gaols, hanging the worst criminals (7) and giving pardon to others - as long as they continued to fight against their hated enemies, the Kings of the Iron Crown and the Necromancers.


These rag-tag warbands of deserters and thieves, brawlers and drunkards, laze-abouts and losers, with some few Knights of Iridia who stayed, were let loose on the ruined piece of land to wage the war as they saw fit, either to become Kings of the Iron Crown themselves or die against them. Many towns instituted policies to prevent the former and few regretted the latter (unless their corpses went unburned), with the hope that in the Spring, they would have caused more damage to the enemy than to the Freeholds.


Neither side expected what really happened."

From the Annals of the Winter War, Volume 1, written by Columbanus, Monk of Iridia, Abbey of the Western Pines, Great Northern Kingdom, 975ia.

Flagnotes:
(1) The 951st/952nd year since Iridia ascended into the heavens. ia is the common abbreviation of Iridia Ascendant.
(2) Kings of the Iron Crown is a Southern Freehold colloquialism for bandit chieftains.
(3) "Necromancer" was a new word at the time, as Undead were heretofore unknown prior to 951ia. The provenance of the word is unknown but many believe it is the name of the first wizard with these powers over the dead. The few Necromancers or Kings of the Iron Crown that were captured during the time were either unwilling to explain it's true history or unable due to lack of specific knowledge.
(4) The new Iridian Calendar is made of of 12 months: Deepwinter (January), Latewinter (February), Storms (March), Vernal (April), Planting (May), Flowers (June), Summertide (July), Highsun (August), Leaffall (September), Autumnal (October), Firstwinter (November) and Nightal (December). The old Iridian Calendar consisted of four seasons and a dozen or more feast days but became difficult to delineate sufficiently and fell into disuse by 397ia.
(5) "Zombies" and "Skeletons" were a colloquialism that developed during the Winter War. While "Skeletons" are an accurate description of that type of undead, it is unknown where the term "Zombie" came from, though it could be a bastardization from an Old Iridian phrase "Chom Bes" (to eat voraciously). Unfortunately, no one has provided any support for that possibility.
(6) A practice still in observance in many areas of the Southern Freeholds and Northern Kingdom.
(7) According to scant records of the time this mainly consisted of murderers and rapists.

[Resources] The Circus!

The greatness of the Circus, whether a source of horror or wonder, cannot be ignored. From the pathetic and tragic Mammy Fortuna's Traveling Carnival from Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn to the eerie and dangerous Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show from Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, even the seminal Circus theme music (the Entrance of the Gladiators), all speak volumes to the way fantasy and reality mix in the Circus, including the language of the Carny.

Adventures in the carnival can cross the genres of heroism and tragedy, damnation and redemption. Starting a game in one makes everyone at the table realize that this isn't going to be your regular game. Investigating a murder under the Big Top or searching for clues to the Big Bad's secret plan for world domination can add that spice to the game session. Cliche? Who cares, just mix it up!

[1938] Sticky Bomb

The Sticky Bomb was a World War II British anti-tank weapon made from nitro and adhesive, and with a 5-second fuse. The official name was the Anti-Tank No. 74 Hand Grenade.

First issued in 1940 to Home Guard troops, the weapon was also used by regular army. Considered by some to be a stop-gap at a time when Britain lacked effective anti-tank weapons, it took a personal order by Churchill for 3 million of the bombs to be made.

Despite it's flaws (adhering to dusty, dirty or muddy vehicles was a problem), it was effective. In fact, in 1943, six German tanks were taken out in a little town called Thala in North Africa by these sticky bombs.

In 1938: A Very British Civil War, the sticky bomb is used by all sides of the conflict (or at least those who have the materials to do so) in an attempt to disable and destroy the various forms of mobile armor that have been scrounged, built, requisitioned or bought.

In terms of Savage Worlds, the Sticky Bomb is as follows:

Range: 1/2/4, Damage: 3d8, Notes: AP 3 (5 if well-secured to hull).

[Atomic Thursday] Mousetrap/Pingpong Ball Simulation

Students in an A.P. Chemistry class at Horizon Science Academy came up with a simulated nuclear reaction using pingpong balls and mousetraps. Very cool.

[1938] Dirigible! R100 and R101 on the loose

Continuing with the air-power for my 1938: A Very British Civil War Isle of Man campaign, I present the rival dirigibles, R100 and R101.

During late WWI and the interwar period, several rigid dirigibles, the R series, were developed for the British military. The R series included:

• R23X class (serial R27 and R29, first flights 1918),
• R31 class (serial R31, first flight 1918, and R32, first flight 1919),
• R33 class (serial R33 and R34, first flights 1919),
• R36 class (serial R36, first flight 1921, and the never built R37),
• R38 class (serial R38, first flight 1921, with R39, R40 and R41 never built),
• R80 class (serial R80, first flight 1920), and
• R100 class (serial R100 and R101, first flights 1929)

When R38 crashed during her first flight in 1921 near the city of Hull, the military project was closed. Despite a re-vamp in 1925, with R33 (and a whole adventure story about that), things then petered off until 1929, when R100 and R101 were developed and flown. Two separate groups developed these ships - a private company Vickers built the "Capitalist Airship" R100, while the Government Air Ministry built the "the Socialist Airship" R101. Both flew in 1929, with the R101 crashing in late 1930, killing 48 of the 55 passengers and crew. This final event ended the British dirigible program.

But what could be in an alternate timeline? Perhaps both R100 and R101, the "Capitalist" and "Socialist" airships survived to 1938. Perhaps they took sides similar to their nicknames. Perhaps they now spend the bulk of the Very British Civil War playing a cat-and-mouse game in the clouds, fighting their own version of the war. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

So here are the stats for R100 and R101 (using Clint Black's Savage Crimson Skies rules). They're the same, pretty much, but have some different glitches.

And to prevent anything from shortening the adventure (one shot and *boom*), they use helium (in 1935, the British government managed to get a contract from the US for their two flagships), so the very explosive hydrogen hasn't been used for a couple of years. No *boom*.


R100/R101 (3 points)
Crew:

• R100: 37 + 63 passengers (max capacity 100)
  
• R101: 45 (15 minimum) + 55 passengers (max capacity 100)

Speed: 8 (Average, 2 points)

• R100: maximum speed: 81.5 mph, cruising speed: 50 mph, range: 4095 miles
• R101: maximum speed: 71 mph, cruising speed: 63 mph, range: 4000 miles

Toughness: 12 (2) (Poor)
Weaponry:

• 8x Machineguns (Range: 15/30/60, Damage: 2d8, RoF: 3, Notes: AP2) (Poor)

Hard Points: 0 (Poor)


Glitches (1, -1 point):

• R100 - Engine Overheating- This aircraft’s engine overheats when stressed. When performing any maneuver with a –4 or worse modifier, this vehicle suffers an additional –2 modifier.
• R101 - Fuel Hog- This aircraft suffers a –2 modifier when rolling for fuel usage.

Upgrades (2, 2 points):
VTOL (dirigible) - stall speed is 0 (see Decreased Stall Speed).

Improved Handling- All Piloting rolls gain a +1 bonus.

[Resources] Barding, the Horse Kind

Horse barding is still used in this modern age, especially in bullfighting. A caparison (a cloth cover on a horse, once part of medieval barding) called a "peto" is used by Picadores, the two horsemen who stab the bull with spears to "improve" the bull's performance during the fight.

The peto is a thick quilted padding that protects the horse from the bull. Prior to using these, horses often were killed by the bull. With the armor, horses can still get injured - internal injuries and broken ribs.

Petos can be used in a modern or post-apocalyptic campaign fairly easily - protecting valuable horses in any combat situation, from spies chasing a bad guy into a bullfighting ring during a performance to a group of mounted fighters battling mutants in the atomic wasteland.

In terms of Savage Worlds, a peto is heavily-quilted armor (+1 to Toughness), weighs 35 lbs and costs $250.

For Microlite20 Modern, it provides +2 AC protection, weighs 35 lbs and costs $250.

[Savage Worlds] The Winter War Campaign

I asked my buddy Christian if I could co-opt his old D20 Winter War campaign. So I rounded up a crew to play it out, made up some novice Savage Worlds characters and came up with a background write-up (which I'll provide in a following post).

I met the majority of these folks online and gathered them together at a local game shop. The PCs are:

• Joe Redwing, a big warrior with a big sword (played by J).
• Sir Aerik Blackmoor, an old nobleman (played by C).
• McFee, a swordsman that wields two swords (played by D).
• Nostro, a wizard (played by N).
• Father Ashley, a priest of Iridia (played by J).
• Edwin, a scout with a wild boar companion (played by M).
• Keldon Blackwood, an axe-man (played by S).
• Rick Hardrick, a mediocre swordsman (played by C).

I plan on writing up the sessions (each named after an appropriate Johnny Cash song) and posting them, as well as the characters involved, so keep checking back.

[Auld Lang 'Zine] 1001+1 Nights, Issue #50

Issue #50, One Thousand and One Nights and One Night RPG Campaign Design 'zine
Issue no. 50 of One Thousand and One Nights and One Night Campaign Design 'zine was published in November 2009.

Issue no. 49 was supposed to be the last issue since I had been publishing my other 'zine, Switching to Guns, for a while. But nostalgia brought me back to this old 'zine for a final show: a very fun Iron Kingdoms adventure on the High Seas, with a rousing battle and an exploding boat. Can't beat that with a stick!

Again, no more game notes.