Advice for a new GM.

[Rapparee]

Howya lads,

I've only ever had the fortune to play one game of T2K in my gaming life, a variant on Escape from Kalisz. Our 5th Division survivors merrily razed a fuel dump belonging to the 4th Guards Army before assaulting their rear headquarters group. Lack of understanding in commando tactics resulted in one player and two NPC's escaping the carnage and we sadly never followed it up.

But enough about me! I've a group of players that I'm trying to push into playing more military style games especially since when I happened to obtain pdfs of alot of the modules . Since they were playing WoD last year, it took a good while to try them on a Call of Cthulhu game but I finally had success by setting a CoC style campaign in Vietnam and making every second scenario just a typical day in 'Nam. Its been a long and cruel process but I think they're ready after Christmas. Finally I don't have to deal with vampires, werewolves and all that crap:L

I know the Polish modules mightn't appeal to the majority of them so I was thinking of running the aforementioned Escape From Kalisz as an intro and prequel and then maybe try them on Armies of the Night. Other modules that I'm sure would definetely pique their interest would be Allegheny Uprising, Satellite Down, Urban Guerilla, Kidnapped and maybe Boomer. I'd just be using them as guidelines but I was just eager for any general advice, especially on that of the modules if people are familiar with them and have played them or used them for a group.

Cheers!

[Panther Al]

Sounds like you are off to a good start, your players are clued in to modern games and seem to be open to the idea of a "realistic" game. From horrible personal experience don't drag out the escape from kalisz too long: enough to get them dialed into the mechanics and setting and then kill it the moment it becomes feasible and not one roll later. A prior gm insisted on training players till they "got it" which by the time we all got fed up with no real adventuring was a three months later: he still doesn't get why we all quit.

[Raellus]

You might just want to skip the Kalisz opener if you think your players would be more into one of the CONUS-based modules. Just start them off in the U.S. Based on their experience/knowledge/preference, they could be new draftees or veterans returned from combat overseas (or a mix of both).

[StainlessSteelCynic]

If you do want to stick with the 'Escape From Kalisz' scenario, I'd suggest you place the emphasis on the escape and evasion aspects and keep any heavy combat out until they're comfortable with the rules and the gameworld.

No matter what way you start them on their T2k experience, you could add some eerie/horror aspects to peak their interest at the start, for example: -

1. Have the scenario at night & describe battles in the distance as 'strange lights'. True the PCs may have been in combat before but if there's a mist rolling in (and they are common in Poland even in summer) and the light from fires (like say a forest on fire) and artillery/tank muzzle flashes are distorted by the mist and by distance the players themselves will probably let their imaginations conjure up something else. And sound will also be distorted by the mist and by distance. You could even throw in an unexpected storm with lots of lightning and wind.

2. Have them escape through a cemetery during the night, you can throw in every horror trick in the book to make them wary, odd noises, strange shadows but hey, it's just a rundown old cemetery that has a few terrified refugees hiding in it... or perhaps they're escapees from an asylum for the criminally insane. Again, the players will likely take what you describe and let their imaginations make it worse than what it really is.

3. During part of their escape, they could stumble through an old mass grave of unburied bodies (if they're in vehicles, it could be during one of their halts). The bodies are well covered in leaf litter and it's only when the pc's sit down that they find themselves 'crunching' through some poor soul's ribcage. When they start to really look, they can see movement under the leaf litter and they can see bones poking through here and there. Of course, the bones were already poking through, they just hadn't noticed them earlier and the movement, it's just local animals scurrying away from the noisy humans but the odd skull or two rolling down a hillock because it's been dislodged by an animal seeking to escape might help convince the players that there is more at work.

The idea here being that if you appeal to the player's liking for horror RPGs, you can slowly introduce the more military aspects of T2k and hopefully by the time they realize it isn't a 'horror' theme all the time, they're actually enjoying the game without worrying that it's not a genre they were initially interested in. You can keep it sort of survival-horror themed (but without the obvious 'horror' monsters) simply by the way you describe the scenes and encounters until they no longer need that hook to enjoy the game.

[Legbreaker]

Or going with something light like Gateway to the Spanish Main. I ran a group through that a few years back and it was brilliant - hundreds of soccer/cricket fans (it was end of season for one, beginning for the other) travelling about on sugarcane powered and severely overloaded busses with clouds of cannabis smoke trailing along behind them. Inept Cubans basically undersiege by underequipped locals. Retired US vets in their rose garden fortified village (complete with hidden fire lanes, weapon pits and garden gnome booby traps).

It was a blast!

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Raellus

You might just want to skip the Kalisz opener if you think your players would be more into one of the CONUS-based modules. Just start them off in the U.S. Based on their experience/knowledge/preference, they could be new draftees or veterans returned from combat overseas (or a mix of both).

I agree with this. As a matter of fact in the opening few pages of Armies of the Night it talks about not having to have players who have already played through any of the European modules.

[Rapparee]

Gentlemen(if theres any ladies who commented, my apolagies!:L), cheers for the general advice, I'll admit I was surprised to get such an enthusiastic response!

I'll probably explain my choices!:L

Armies of the Night- I'll admit, an Escape from New York style thing automatically jumped to my mind! Plus it offers so much scope from cutting deals with gangs or going at them like the Punisher. A nice urban nightmare for them to experience.

Allegheny Uprising- Militia groups, survivalists, general anarchy amidst hunting for a survival cache, I know my players would love it. A mate of mine who plays T2K says his group loved it.

Satellite Down- My group are used to tackling cultists. This will put them back on familiar turf and it would be fun to watch how they go about infiltrating it. Their usual approach being blow away every cultist in sight. A nice infiltration mission for them I think.

Urban Guerilla- I've seen great reviews of it and it gives them a mission to accomplish, leaving it pretty open-ended.

Kidnapped- I feel I might have to over-emphasize that it is NOT an assassination mission but worth a shot!

Boomer- Reminds of the film version of Ice Station Zebra. Its straightforward and they'll love it!

[weswood]

Run'em through Armies of the Night first and play up the diseased canibals. Pale skinny gomers coming at you saying "I want to eat your brains!"

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by Rapparee

I know the Polish modules mightn't appeal to the majority of them so I was thinking of running the aforementioned Escape From Kalisz as an intro and prequel and then maybe try them on Armies of the Night. Other modules that I'm sure would definetely pique their interest would be Allegheny Uprising, Satellite Down, Urban Guerilla, Kidnapped and maybe Boomer. I'd just be using them as guidelines but I was just eager for any general advice, especially on that of the modules if people are familiar with them and have played them or used them for a group.

Rapparee

Maybe some tactical "cheat sheets" or perhaps NPCs with combat experience that can clue the players in is a good way to go. However, if they were doing some 'Nam gaming then they probably have a good grasp of things.

Kalisz is a good adventure and has a lot to recommend it, not to mention being a classic. European adventures have some advantages; Poland was set up specifically to be a kind of "wild west", where the PCs could do what they willed without having to deal with any kind of outside chain of command. On the other hand, being trapped far behind enemy lines imposes a certain kind of existential concern, plus the players will eventually find themselves picking up Warsaw Pact gear simply due to lack of outside supply, if they don't go native completely.

At least we do have the Internet now. Back when I ran Kalisz, the Black Madonna and Krakow in the mid-80's, I had no idea what Poland was like beyond the odd out-of-date library book. Much less how to pronounce "Czestochowa". With Wikipedia, now I can look up individual towns, vegetation, the Polish language, etc.

You might want to cut to the chase and start with Going Home. It's the tail-end of the first round of European adventures, of course, but once it's done the players are in a different continent, giving your game a more broader geographical sweep than the Vistula river valley.

Back in the USA, many adventures are written so that players can belong to either the MiLGOV or CIVGOV faction, depending on your or the players/PCs' sympathies, if any. They could even be freelancers ('armed contractors" or whatever you want to call them) if neither side appeals. (Many soldiers seem to despise civilian leadership in general, while backing MILGOV is like expecting American draftees fresh back from Vietnam backing an unconstitutional coup led by General Westmoreland in the aftermath of WWIII.)

Of the adventures you suggest, I'd advise Kidnapped or Urban Guerrilla. I've run the latter, and the former adventure is a key event in the post-war USA as the successful completion hamstrings New America, everyone's favourite bad guys. For specifically free-lance (ie: mercenary) groups, "Pennsylvania Crude" in Challenge 49 is a good choice.

One last piece of advice to a new GM is decide if you want to place restrictions on gear or let the players decide according to the generous rules in the main rulebook.

Some GMs go for a "gear light" scenario, restricting player choice to a greater or lesser degree depending on the rationale for the game start. Breaking out from Kalisz or with many of the other adventures, players are assumed to have as much supplies as they can carry and start mounted in vehicles up to and occasionally including tanks. The opposite end of the scale is the PCs barely escape with the clothes on their backs and not much more (if that). My experience is both methods have strengths and weaknesses.

Depending on their choices using the book method, the players can start with a wide selection of weapons and tools to allow for many different approaches. Unrestricted choice generally leads to considerable firepower, which can lead to stereotypical play. Certainly, you can impose some reasonable restrictions ("no nukes!") and you always get a veto, but to a degree your players are not going to lack for equipment and ammunition unless they make poor choices.

In my opinion, the standard starting equipment allowance is relatively straightforward to set up, is less likely to lead to player frustration (as the players have largely a free hand) and is therefore what I would recommend for a starting group and GM. A limited setup is probably more suitable for more experienced GMs, as it adds challenge to an already challenging and deadly game. It also requires very careful bookkeeping on the part of the GM and players. (If every shot must count, you must carefully count each shot.)

On the other hand, if you want a "gear lite" approach, "Gateway to the Spanish Main" has that as a suggested start. (The players start unarmed, shipwrecked and adrift after their prison ship is torpedoed.) Or, the sailing ship replica can pick them up in Europe for transport to the USA, stripping the PCs of vehicles but leaving them with what the ship can carry (which could be a lot!).

Tony

Sorry this isn't advice.

Ironically, I was a WWII reenactor in Dunedin, Florida. We were all armed with live weapons from WWII, and were members of a military/law enforcement museum there that has just about every weapon one can think of to include the oddities like the OSS weapons of WWII, and the GyroJet from Vietnam.

The catch of the irony: in Urban Guerrilla, there is a militant group in Dunedin called the Dunedin Rangers. I showed my friends the exert of the supplement talking about it, and we all had a good laugh. Weird, man. Weird.

I am originally from Tampa Bay, by the way, and have always wanted to run or be part of an Urban Guerrilla game that was put together by very knowledgeable Floridians.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Rapparee

Howya lads,

I know the Polish modules mightn't appeal to the majority of them so I was thinking of running the aforementioned Escape From Kalisz as an intro and prequel and then maybe try them on Armies of the Night. Other modules that I'm sure would definitely pique their interest would be Allegheny Uprising, Satellite Down, Urban Guerrilla, Kidnapped and maybe Boomer. I'd just be using them as guidelines but I was just eager for any general advice, especially on that of the modules if people are familiar with them and have played them or used them for a group.

Any of those American modules should work OK, I've read 'em all.
- I ran "Allegheny Uprising" once (see sig), but PvP conflict ended it PDQ.
- I played in "Sat. Down," I didn't like it so much-- I'm not a fan of adventures that key on the PCs infiltrating the bad guy camp.
-"Kidnapped," IMO, would be a good one to start with, as it gives them a finite mission, but lets them loose to achieve it on their own. It could be followed up by "Allegheny," since the areas aren't too far apart, and they can use some of the information they gathered on the way.
-"Boomer" would also work as a starter, if you say that the PCs were leaving Europe on a Navy ship, and were detailed to the SSN on the way home. After it's over, drop them off at the East Coast port of your choice.

I should mention that for me, the magic of the early Poland modules ("Krakow," "Black Madonna") was that they were set up without a story to follow. Instead, the PCs were given Something Important that they couldn't use themselves, but had to negotiate with the world around them to make real its value. The GM was given multiple NPC groups who could use the Something, and how that could happen. "King's Ransom" was the same way, and "Urban Guerrilla" is similar.