[TW2013] Escape from Kalisz. Advice and questions
 

I'm running Escape from Kalisz for the 1st time using TW 2013. I used the alternate scenario that was posted on this board somewhere. They started out in a university apart of the medical team. One PC is a doctor, one a military lifer as security, and one a hardened lifetime criminal who was drafted into the military.
The PC's just got back from taking out an enemy mortar team. As they get back, artillery starts to land around them. The Doc and criminal go to get the meds from the chemistry lab and find to deserting G.I's trying to steal all the drugs.

I wanted to have the PC's to make some type of perception check to tell that someone was in there who wasn't supposed to be. Maybe the door was ajar or something similar. TW 2013 skills are so general. I'm used to playing rpgs like GURPS where there are many types of skills. There seems to be no perception type skills in TW 2013. I used an attribute check for Awareness.

Am I missing something?

A shoot out occurs with the PC's taking out the G.I's. They then run for the Hummer which they left outside. It's gone. They run to the front of the building and have a couple possible vehicles they could escape with. Each has some sort of drama tied to it.(other G.I's fighting over it and so forth) Like typical PC's, they do something I didn't expect and go looking for some horses to escape the town. I went with it. We ended our session with them finding some horses and taking out the guard who was guarding them.

Use the characters awareness to make a check to see if they noticed anything

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And it just so happens that all the PCs know how to ride a horse?

Not all
 

One's an American Indian and the other is from the hills of Pennsylvania and they both have animal husbandry. I don't know if they have the mounts skill. Hmmm.....

Good question. If they don't, maybe you can use Animal Husbandry, with a decent penalty, when they try to ride. And don't let them go above a canter.

Or a lot of Coordination checks. With results that range from humorous to disastrous when (not if) they fail.

I'd imagine the characters that can ride can advise the non-riders also. But if thay have to go faster than a walk, look out.

If I was in their position I would use the horses as pack horses (assuming I could get a pack saddle) and walk.

you can improvise one with 2 or 4 ALICE packs i forget the FM that shows exactly how but if your PC's are creative enough to try it im sure they can figure out how.

Werd.

While they could be improvised, horses are poor load carriers without a proper cargo saddle. By 2000 however they should be more common and the expertise would be higher.

I'd think you could pop the quick releases on the two Alice packs and knot them together, then cinch down tight. The shoulder pads should provide the horse some padding, with more possible with a USGI wool blanket, sleeping bag or even poncho liner. Underneath, any good troop should have enough 550 cord to improvise a cinch (though by 2000, I suppose some kind of light rope or leather straps may have taken the ubiquitous role of 550 cord). Or you could probably improvise something more pleasant for the horse with rifle slings, uniform belts, or cargo straps).

Thinking about it, I would guess this would work best the frames removed from the packs, which could be done with medium Alice easily. The large packs would require some additional improv to fit the shoulder straps to the bag without the frame.

I just let them do it.

They went west, crossing the river that runs thru Kalisz. I used Google maps, which was pretty neat.

One of the horses was injured, so they slaughter it for its meat. I have a Macgyver in the group. He wanted to smoke the meat so he found a water heater in a basement, busted it open and tried to make a smoker out of it.

Does anyone else have players like this? I'm afraid to give him an inch or he will take a mile.

Players that want their characters to engage in complicated, lengthy activities like smoking meat when they are in a time-critical situation are easy to deal with. All around Kalisz it's going to be crawling with friendly and enemy soldiers for days after the battle. Staying in one place and setting up a smoker is sheer madness under those circumstances. If the other PCs don't point that out to the offending PC, have a level-headed NPC say it to him.

Have an enemy patrol walk up on them after spotting the smoke. That'll teach him. Or, for a twist, have a "friendly" unit follow the smoke and then shake the party down for chow and ammo.

Part of that probably my inexperience with the genre. Your right. They need some tough love.

Two of them went out to explore and ran into the Stout Yeomanry. They demanded to be let in at 3 in the morning pretending to be Polish soldiers. The farmers ran back inside ready for a fight. That's were we stopped. I think they are going to assault it next time.

I should have made Kalisz more dangerous. It just seems so big to me and easy to hide for days.

Knock a few buildings down, lay waste to the countryside - it's been years of war (including nukes) after all. That'll sort out the "so many areas to hide in" problem fairly quickly! ;)

Not a bad idea; but the players would have to be very careful. A Morgan breed will be able to carry roughly 240lbs without risk of injury (this would include the weight of saddle and rider). Using ALICE bags, the players would have to insure that the bags are as equal in weight as possible. For example, when US cavalry packers would load bags of oats; they would issue the grain one scoop out a time and alternating each scoop from each bag.

The issue with the weight distribution is that an unbalanced pack can 'gall' the horse's back, for the players, this would mean that the animal would suffer from opening running sores that will will require treatment as well as a long period of time in which the animal cannot carry a load.