War Dogs...

[natehale1971]

Tonight Fox News Channel show 'War Stories' dealt alot with War Dogs... And it made me wonder, did anyone use War Dogs in their campaigns?

Our group actually had a female military police specialist PC with her working dog... Anyone else use War Dogs in their games?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...x-K-9_Andy.jpg

[Mohoender]

No but that should be interesting. Moreover, dogs could be useful not only for combat. I can easily imagine a character coming from some rescue service and still having his rescue dog with him. What could be interesting also is that some dogs can prove as dangerous for the target as for the owner (Doberman, pit fighting dogs...).

From what I know the german were using mostly Belgian shepperd Dog (Malinois) as guard dog.
Some years ago I owned two Beaucerons (French shorthaired sheeperd) and they were terrific as guard dogs but you had to go with some rules as they could become higly dangerous dogs. In wars, these dogs had been used as messengers, supply carriers, mine detection (I didn't know that one) and rescue.
Great Danes and Irish Wolfhounds are very impressive and were both used for war.

Actually, animals could be interesting in many ways (outside ending up as dish) and they are largely undercovered by T2K (IMO). After all, Rome was saved by its sacred geese.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by natehale1971

Tonight Fox News Channel show 'War Stories' dealt alot with War Dogs... And it made me wonder, did anyone use War Dogs in their campaigns?

Our group actually had a female military police specialist PC with her working dog... Anyone else use War Dogs in their games?

There is a female USAF dog handler NPC in the party in my current campaign and she has repeately lobbied the CO to be allowed to have a dog but Major Po had denied her permission. As a GM I'd be happy for the party to have a war dog because the system I use, Gunmaster, is based on Harnmaster which has excellent rules for various animals including dogs and horses. The hunting rules in particular are really good and the use of a trained dog in hunting makes the whole operation much easier. Good for tracking too (animals or people).

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Targan

There is a female USAF dog handler NPC in the party in my current campaign and she has repeately lobbied the CO to be allowed to have a dog but Major Po had denied her permission.

This has been the case for years I believe. Is Major Po (the character not the poster) just being spiteful towards the dog handler or does he have a reason? Given dogs should be easier to acquire and maintain than most pieces of equipment I don't see much logic in not having one.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by kato13

Is Major Po (the character not the poster) just being spiteful towards the dog handler or does he have a reason?

Actually I really don't know. Maybe MajorPo will log on some time and give us a reason.

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Targan

Actually I really don't know. Maybe MajorPo will log on some time and give us a reason.

I thought there might be some type of '"the blanket" does not like dogs' reason or something. Really seems like the waste of a person with a skill. He has not been on in a while so give him a nudge next time you talk with him. Always interesting getting an insight into Dr. Po's brain.

[Targan]

Okay well here is my theory.

I think I have described before the circmstances under which Tech Sgt Latoya Martinez, USAF came to join Major Po's merry band. When he and his unit reached Bremerhaven Po managed to convince the US military brass to hold an all-services martial arts tournament to provide entertainment to the tens of thousands of US personnel waiting in Bremerhaven with some entertainment.

Po is a highly skilled practitioner of Wing Chun (had been training since he was a child). He organised the tournament in a series of elimination bouts in three classes, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. The tournament was held in a soccer stadium and it was a more than full house. Of course as he and his men had access to "The Blanket" they were able to recover fully from their injuries after each bout so it ended up that Po fought in the grand final in the lightweight division, Gunny Lamont (the godlike USMC veteran based on Thomas Highway from "Heartbreak Ridge") in the middleweight and my brother's PC Cpl Urana Ratowi, USMC (a 6'5", 230lb American Samoan) in the heavyweight group.

Po's grand final opponent was Martinez who was a mighty fine brawler because she came from a big Mexican-American family from LA with six older brothers. Martinez's USAF buddies had been secretly giving her PCP before each bout (unbeknownst to her) and they gave her a big dose for the bout with Po (and bet huge sums on her winning). Martinez ended up going berserk in the ring and beat the crap out of Po. When he regained consciousness he ordered that she be brought into his group, and I now think that may have been to keep an eye on her.

Po treats Martinez pretty well but deep down I think he is still scared of her and denying her a military dog might be his way of punishing her on an ongoing basis for beating him.

As an aside the grand finals of the tournament ended with a huge riot. I've actually written a short story about the day of the tournament.

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Targan

Po treats Martinez pretty well but deep down I think he is still scared of her and denying her a military dog might be his way of punishing her on an ongoing basis for beating him.

That makes sense. Using the blanket between rounds also makes sense as to how they could all make it to the finals. Po is going to be a villain in my next game so I try to understand him as best I can.

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by Mohoender

No but that should be interesting. Moreover, dogs could be useful not only for combat. I can easily imagine a character coming from some rescue service and still having his rescue dog with him. What could be interesting also is that some dogs can prove as dangerous for the target as for the owner (Doberman, pit fighting dogs...).

From what I know the german were using mostly Belgian shepperd Dog (Malinois) as guard dog.
Some years ago I owned two Beaucerons (French shorthaired sheeperd) and they were terrific as guard dogs but you had to go with some rules as they could become higly dangerous dogs. In wars, these dogs had been used as messengers, supply carriers, mine detection (I didn't know that one) and rescue.
Great Danes and Irish Wolfhounds are very impressive and were both used for war.

Actually, animals could be interesting in many ways (outside ending up as dish) and they are largely undercovered by T2K (IMO). After all, Rome was saved by its sacred geese.

My character now has some scabby dogs in his throne room hehe...

apart from that I must say that allmost every dog can be dangerous, I have a Doberman myself and she is a very non-aggresive dog...(as long as you don't try to break in my apartment) ...the stigma some dog-races get is not allways right (usually not)...IMHO it's the owner that makes his dog dangerous...I've seen it loads of times...I actualle got attacked by a German Shepperd in my shop.
-the owner managed to utter the following words:

That's the first time that's happened in a shop...

---I was speechless.....

on a side note in Nigeria the Loansharks use Hyenas ....

[Targan]

General Pain, those are some incredible photos. I am amazed.

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by Targan

General Pain, those are some incredible photos. I am amazed.

Praise Google

[General Pain]

************************************************** *****
http://www.scamorama.com/hyena.html

[Mohoender]

I agree with Targ General. Moroever, your pictures can give us some great ideas about unusual animals. I agree with what you say about dogs and masters (owners). Nevertheless, some dogs can be nuts while every dog is not well suited for every tasks.

Coming back on the French shorthair shepperds: They were great as guard (attacking in silence, refusing outside food) and for rescue (even untrained). Someone, fall from his motorbike in my place and the dogs came to his rescue, moving the bike away. I also used to go with both dogs (a 116lb oversize male and a much smaller 85lb female) for long night walks and that was a lot of fun as the female was helping me walking when it was becoming too dark. On the other hand, they killed a few dozen sheeps, decapitated another dog...

Another downside with these dogs is that you can't train them to wound people (when they move against someone, it's always for the kill). Moreover, when they attack, you can't stop them before they kill their target unless you want to end up as dead meat. In addition, you need to have a female and a male (two males or two females will kill eachother). Then, my dogs had a very intersting tactics when attacking (it happened once with gipsies who barely escaped by jumping of the wall): the male was attacking from the front while the female was attacking (simultaneously and silently) from the back.

This is, of course, an exemple but you'll find different things for every dog. In my opinion, when allowing dogs, a GM should do some reasearch (limited ones) in order to add some reality.

I don't know if that story is true as I just found it on wiki (I ask the californians??): "In southern California in 2009, three chihuahuas protected their master, a three year old girl, from a 100 pound mountain lion".

I can believe it as (before the beauceron) I had a dachshund (15 cm long body) that finished its life hunting wild boars.

[Rainbow Six]

In the UK Survivor's Guide I'm working on I have a marauder group based in Colchester, Essex, who are the former inmates of the British Military Prison that is located there. Their leader is a former paratrooper who had been convicted of some very unpleasant things and was pending transfer to a civilian prison when the nukes started flying.

He is accompanied everywhere by a pit bull terrier and the local population are almost as scared of the dog as they are of him.

[natehale1971]

During WWII and Vietnam the War Dogs where trained to look for boobytraps and other kinds of nasty 'gifts' the enemy was leaving us... The use of ceramic landmines during WWII was something that made the Marines LOVE War Dogs, but they say the biggest reason the Marines loved them was because the War Dogs would stand guard duty with their handlers while at Camp Pendleton. And the War Dogs detected the US Army Paratroopers sneaking into the Camp to 'Borrow' supplies or set up practical jokes!

[weswood]

When I first started playing RPGs, I played Dungeons & Dragons. My character was a pretty weak fighter who was several levles lower than the rest of the group, so he bought a war dog. The dog was named Rauol (odd how I remember this over 25 years later) who was a bad, bad puppy. He had one less hit point than the character (Homer the elven fighter). Every time Homer would go up a level, the DM let me add his hit points to the dog. I think when the dog finally died he had 23 hit points.

[weswood]

Those hyenas are huge, I never realized they were so big. I guess I've never seen them next to a person before to give a size reference. I'm definately going to have to add a pack of zoo escapees to my list of random encounters!

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by weswood

Those hyenas are huge, I never realized they were so big. I guess I've never seen them next to a person before to give a size reference. I'm definately going to have to add a pack of zoo escapees to my list of random encounters!

now that's what I call a plan... hehe

[Adm.Lee]

Somewhere in the news (For Your Eyes Only, I think) I just saw that the Iraqis are just now overcoming the Arabic distaste for dogs, to start training their own. Seeing them in the US services is obviously what gave them the idea.

My last D&D 3.5 character was a druid-fighter with a war dog. We referred to the dog as the "second-best fighter in the company." My dice seemed to like her better than my "real" PC, anyway.

It would seem a cinch for any group to want to have trained guard or hunting dogs in T2k.

[Targan]

When we were teenagers I ran a D&D campaign that MajorPo played in and he played a druid (whose name is now lost in the mists of time). This druid had a war dog named Lionel. The druid died on about the second session of the campaign and MajorPo asked me if he could play Lionel who was much more effective in combat anyway. Despite the limited role playing opportunities Lionel actually fared spectacularly well.

[Canadian Army]

I had this for awhile, so I thought I should post it. The dogs info this from Paul's site.

[kato13]

bumping for Major Po's attention. Good to see you back BTW.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by General Pain

Praise Google

I have noticed over the past two months or so, you have achieved your black belt in Google-fu.

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I have noticed over the past two months or so, you have achieved your black belt in Google-fu.

takes years of googling....

[MajorPo]

Ah the martial arts contest... I remember it well. I also remember how everything turned sour in the end and we had a mass riot on our hands. As is often the way in our campaign we try and do something nice for everyone and it all somehow goes wrong. I think Targan gains a little perverse pleasure from putting clouds around any silver linings that may ever so briefly sparkle

As to the dog for Martinez I actually can't remember my original reason for denying the request. More recently though Po has been having trouble with animals. I'm not entirely sure whether it relates to some kind of curse or possibly due to his high levels of 'bad karma' (part of our eclectic religion rules) but for some time now no animals will come within about 50m of Po and when forced to they become overwhelmed with panic or aggression. This actually has worked quite well in the ruins of New York as it keeps the rats away. It could prove socially akward in the future though so I'll have to try and work out how to fix it sometime soon

[kato13]

Originally Posted by MajorPo

As to the dog for Martinez I actually can't remember my original reason for denying the request. More recently though Po has been having trouble with animals. I'm not entirely sure whether it relates to some kind of curse or possibly due to his high levels of 'bad karma' (part of our eclectic religion rules) but for some time now no animals will come within about 50m of Po and when forced to they become overwhelmed with panic or aggression. This actually has worked quite well in the ruins of New York as it keeps the rats away. It could prove socially akward in the future though so I'll have to try and work out how to fix it sometime soon

Thanks for the explanation. I kinda thought the blanket might scare dogs but Po's bad karma makes just as much sense.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by MajorPo

I think Targan gains a little perverse pleasure from putting clouds around any silver linings that may ever so briefly sparkle

I learned from the master.

Originally Posted by MajorPo

More recently though Po has been having trouble with animals. I'm not entirely sure whether it relates to some kind of curse or possibly due to his high levels of 'bad karma' (part of our eclectic religion rules) but for some time now no animals will come within about 50m of Po and when forced to they become overwhelmed with panic or aggression. This actually has worked quite well in the ruins of New York as it keeps the rats away.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that.

We use a modified version of Harnmaster's religion rules for those characters that have a faith or belief system. Po is a Buddhist so he has a Karma score instead of the usual Piety score. Some of the Catholic PCs and NPCs have used the religion rules to attempt to call for divine intervention in the past.

The funniest thing for me about Po being a Buddhist is that he knows he isn't a very good one.

I will neither confirm or deny whether Po's animal fear effect is due to his negative karma level or a curse but I suspect he knows which it is.