The OP is from 2009. In 2012, inspired by a documentary I watched about a former Liberian warlord who called himself General Butt-Naked (you can guess why), I decided to create an encounter with child soldiers for the players in my Pirates of the Vistula Campaign, Twilight Cruise. I was thinking about it today. Much to my surprise, I didn't think to mention it here. Better late than never, right?
I thought an encounter with child soldiers would present the players with a difficult but interesting moral and ethical conundrum. Would they avoid killing children, if it could be avoided?
The premise for the presence of child soldiers was that a former Polish security services operative who'd posed as a high school teacher before the war (to gather intel on anti-gov't student groups) had, in the apocalypse, set herself up as the "Queen" of Plock (essentially a variation on a marauder warlord). She used her keen understanding of child psychology and propaganda tactics to create a small army of child soldiers. Here's a blurb in which the party first learned about the nature of said force:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Twilight Cruise, Chapter 18: Plock
"The size of this army is hard to determine. The boy says thousands, but, once again, his number sense doesn't seem very well developed, so the accuracy of the figure seems objectively doubtful. The army is divided into several "companies" of a "couple hundred". Each company has a colorful title and a corresponding mode of dress that sets it apart from the others. There appears to be a fairly good-natured competition between these companies for the Queen's favor. There's the "Beasties" of whom the boy is one. There are also "Monsters", "Sportos", "Supers", and "Kung Fus". Each company is led by a cadre of older boys, the bulk of each unit consisting of boys ranging in age from fourteen to eight. The teenager with the wrecked eye currently tied to the aft railing is the sub-commander of the Beasties.
This rag-tag child army has apparently defeated all efforts of any of the surrounding powers- government and marauder (apparently including the now defunct Vistula Korsairs)- from annexing plock. "Everybody knows we're not to be f****d with." the boy proudly proclaims. The Queen's army not only defends Plock and its growing community of small farmers, it also mounts occasional raids to secure needed resources and new recruits. The Queen's army is well equipped with small arms but does not appear to have much in the way of heavy weapons. The boy doesn't seem to know much in the way of military tactics. It sounds like their martial success is more due to their shocking appearance and near suicidal bravery than anything else."
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Each of the named companies was themed. The Supers all dressed like superheroes, the Beasties like animals, etc. I got this idea from seeing photos of real child soldiers from the Liberian conflict. One was dressed up as Batman. It was terrifying.
The party had a nighttime encounter with some of these child soldiers and a few of the latter were killed. At the time, the party didn't know it was fighting child soldiers. They learned of this unfortunate fact later.
Upon the party's arrival at Plock, the self-styled Queen demanded restitution for the dead children in the form of several thousand rounds of 12.7mm ammunition, which the party had aboard the river tug in abundance. I thought for sure that the party would pay up and be on its way. Instead, they decided to overthrow the Queen of Plock. This, of course, required fighting the Queen's child army. It was a bloodbath. Dozens of child soldiers were killed before the Queen was eliminated. It was the hardest encounter, emotionally speaking, that I'd ever run. I actually regretted coming up with the encounter.
If you've used or encountered child soldiers in your campaign, I'd love to hear about it.
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