WW1. Delville Wood, and things that go 'Bump' in the night.

“At five o’clock a fearful din of guns broke out and heavy shells struck with reverberating crash on Ypres and many villages rarely or never touched before; and to the nostrils of men nearer the front came the smell of devilish incense. Those nearer still to the trenches north of Ypres saw two curious wraiths of greenish-yellow fog creep forward, spread until they became one and then, moving forward, change to a blue-white mist. It hung, as it had come, over the front...” Sir Basil Liddel Hart. History of the First World War.

On Saturday we took a break from our usual AD&D game and played something else. A quick, one shot adventure, that allowed me to get a break from being the DM and being able to play. I was under the impression that it was going to be Twilight 2000 but Nick sprang something else on us entirely. He had pre-rolled all the characters, we had to roll highest to lowest to see who got what. There was a Captain in the 9^th Highland Division, a Grenadier from the South African 1st Infantry, as well as two Privates from the same regiment. The Captain was a Scot, the grenadier an English speaking South African and the two privates were both Afrikaans speaking who shared the surname of Van Tonder. Nick told us we were playing in WW1 and going to be using the GURPS Lite rules. I have never used them before and to be honest, I don’t really mind what system I play, just as long as it doesn’t choke the game play. I got the Grenadier. A sergeant called, Tom Cullen. 

Anyway, it was the evening before the third offensive on the Somme. The South Africans were tasked with the taking then holding of Delville wood on the outskirts of a German held town called Longueval. We were to go over the top that evening and make our way to a châteaux about a two miles outside the town. Once there, we were to gather any and all information on it, and make our way back to our HQ. Sounded simple enough, but hey, this is role-playing, so nothing is ever that straight forward.

We waited for true darkness before heading over the wire and down No-Mans-Land to the east of the Allied lines. There were Whizz-Bangs and machine guns going off all around us, not to mention flares and shouts from both sides, but we made it in one piece to our jump off position. We formed up and headed over a field toward our target. After about an hour we came across a small river and heard a German foot-patrol approaching. We ducked and waited as they passed us by. Van Tonder (1) and I drew our batons, and crept after them. We clubbed two of them, Van Tonder (2) inexplicably shot one of them and the Captain subdued the last one. We thought the shot would have given us away, but luckily because of the shelling etc, going on to our left, no one paid it any attention. We tied them up, took their uniforms, buried ours at our first fall back point (an old oak tree) and interrogated the youngest. We questioned him about everything else first, before casually slipping in fairly innocuous questions about the châteaux and its contents. We figured it would be used by officers as a HQ position, but we just wanted to make sure. It turns out that the châteaux was off-limits to everyone, except some Elite Division the young lad didn’t really know much about anyway. We tied them up, and headed off to the châteaux to complete the mission. It was still a few miles away, so we tabbed (ran) the distance as the clock was ticking.

 About two hundred metres in front of us it rose out of the gloom. From what we could make out in the darkness, it was a two story building flanked by two single story buildings to the east of it. One was an obvious stable so we dispatched Van Tonder (1) to have a look as he had Animal Skills and would stand less of a chance of spooking the horses. We needn’t have bothered. What was left of the horses was just so much mincemeat all over the walls, roof and floor. It was if someone had thrown a bomb in here and the horses had evaporated into a red, meaty, mist.

We scoped out the other building. It was filled with machine parts and strange bits of equipment we knew nothing about that looked to be more scientific than agrarian, so we noted what we could and headed to the main building. All the windows were boarded up so we couldn’t get a look inside. We checked the servant’s entrance at the back and found the door unlocked. Van Tonder (2) checked for obvious I.E.Ds and declared it clear, so we breached and began to clear the bottom floor. It was pitch black so we got a lantern going and began to investigate. The downstairs appeared to be normal, with a pantry, kitchen, cellar and living area in some disarray, but nothing too serious. There were bloodstains on the walls that had dried out but nothing fresh. Van Tonder (2) took this time to see if he could find any silverware and I kept an eye out for pocketable art works. In the study, the Stiff-Upper-Lipped officer found some ‘Papers’, in German. Being a toff, he of course spoke the lingo and deduced that they had been working on some sort of gas, called, ‘Dead Mind’. The player in you goes, fuck, we ALL know what that means but the characters wouldn’t have a clue.

 Anyway, we headed up the stairs to clear the second floor. At the top of the landing, I noticed a thin strip of light coming from beneath the furthest door at the end of a long hallway. I put the lantern halfway down the hall to better illuminate our surrounds. As I did this, a horrible shrill scream came from the room with the light. It got higher and higher until you could only imagine the voice box would tear itself apart. Then something started banging on the door. Because we knew that somehow gas was involved, we slipped on our gas masks and waited. The door gave way, and a German officer, frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog, came stumbling toward us.  I panicked and thought, fuck this, and lobbed a Mills Bomb down the hall before ushering everyone down the stairs and out the way. It went off and ripped the officer in two. I went back up the steps and saw through the smoke that the top half was clawing its way toward us. I shot him in the head and waited. The explosion had blown the doors open on the rest of that wing, so when nothing came out to get us, we went to investigate. There were several bedrooms, water closets, and the last room that had held the German had been converted into a laboratory of sorts.

The Captain snagged some more ‘Papers’ and notes, and two small canisters of the gas. I took one, he took the other. They went into our backpacks along with all the other intel. By reading what we found, we discovered that there was an artillery position not far from here, that was going to shell this gas onto our lines before tomorrow’s invasion. This did not bode well for anyone. The gun emplacement was one of three. The second one was in the occupied town of Longueval, with the third, west of that, a stone’s throw from the German lines. We were running out of time, both in real time and game time, so the Captain came up with a plan.

We would overrun Gun #1, turn it toward Gun #2 and fire the gas at them instead. Then, if we could, head to Gun #2 and do the same to destroy Gun #3. We all agreed, because if you’re gonna die, might as well do it with your boots on.

We were ordered to secure the ground floor while the Captain finished up in the lab. We lit more lanterns and went downstairs to the drawing room. I smoked a cigarette and snuck a wee sip of whiskey while the rest lounged around waiting for the Captain. Van Tonder (2) was rewarded by some silverware that went into his backpack, and all was well, for a second at least. The drawing room window exploded in a hail of glass, bits of wood, and frenzied frothing Germans like the one we had seen up stairs. We fought a running retreat through the downstairs section, while the front door was ripped off by these bizarre invaders. There was no way out. We got trapped in a narrow corridor and Van Tonder (1) went crazy and threw himself into their lines, swinging his entrenching tool as swiftly as he could. He killed two or three of them, while our Sharpshooter did for the rest. I threw a lantern, and when the flames didn’t work, I backed everyone up and began lobbing grenades.

We made it up the stairs to the second-floor as fire broke out down below. There was no escape out the way we had come in.

 The crazed soldiers were gnashing and chomping up the stairs toward us. We headed into a bedroom, barricaded the door, bust open the window, and began fashioning primitive ropes from bed-sheets and blankets. As the door gave in, the last of us were down the rope and running for it. The châteaux was ablaze behind us, letting every German in the world now that all was not well in their area. Luckily we were in German uniform.

We made it to Gun#1 and scoped out the situation.  There was an ammunition tent behind us with some gunners inside as well as the gas shells. Then there were three gunners and a bombardier in the gun entrenchment standing guard over the gun. Everyone was looking at the huge gout of flame on the horizon from the burning châteaux. We came up with a plan to subdue the three in the hole, and then we would take out the rest in the tent. We wanted to keep the gunplay to an absolute minimum, as we didn’t want to risk setting off any of the gas shells prematurely. We had the plan, but somehow in its execution, the fog of war crept in, and we wound up blowing it. The Captain, who had approached the emplacement, was now being dragged off for questioning instead. Screw it, we thought, and opened up. We took hits, twisted some ankles, and the Captain broke free, but not before a bullet entered his backpack and pierced the small gas canister he had inside. He got his mask on in time (we all did) and we watched in horror as scores of our attackers reverted to brain dead animals that sought to rip us limb from limb. I headed to the gun, and began adjusting the coordinates toward Gun#2. I was on my own and it was taking an age. Van Tonder (1) went to get me some of the ammo as none was stored near the gun. He made it back, but not before one of the shells was pierced by a stray round, thus bellowing white smoke everywhere. Luckily, the wind was blowing it toward their lines and not us. I only had two shells to work with. No pressure, hey? Plus there were a horde of Germans stumbling toward me. No one could help, we were all tied up surviving.

The first shell went long, the second went short, but owing to the wind, the gas was going where it was supposed to. We could hear the chaos it was causing.  But then six enemy were on me. Between intermittent rifle fire and some lucky dice, I made it out the hole. I lobbed a grenade in that took care of the enemy but unfortunately damaged the aiming sight of the gun. Dawn was rising and in the distance we heard Gun#3 open up as the whistles sounded for the Allies to go over the top.

We had dispatched our immediate threat, so we sat down, dejected, smoke a cigarette, passed the bottle around, and decided there was nothing for it but to go back, get our uniforms, and head to what may have been left of the line. It took us an hour to do so, fighting the enemy the entire way. When we made it to our side, the place was in serious disarray. I decided I was going to get myself a Vickers machine gun and some ammunition, and try and hold the line where it was in threat of being overrun by Dead Brain, Allies and Germans. 

We went at it for hours but it seemed our shells had the desired effect and sewed much chaos amongst the enemy. With shouts of ‘aim for the head’, we managed to bolster the flagging defences and win the day. Not what we had aimed for, but better than being completely routed. And that’s how it ended. Victory, was ours, and I was knee deep in a machine gun nest lighting a cigarette off the barrel of the machine gun surrounded by hordes of dead, dead things.

 Great game all round.

Loot & Scoot. Killing Is My Business, And Business Is Good. Damn Their Eyes & Pass the Brown M&M’s!

I run a monthly AD&D game for my friends, and because of this, I try and make it an occasion for my players. Those of you that have seen my table can attest to this. But our last game I thought I would do something different, something…simple. If we were a band then this session would be our unplugged album instead of our usual full-on, theatrical world tour complete with smoke, lasers, dancing Ewoks, and a stage rider FULL of brown M&M’s.

 Why the sudden change I hear the crowd, roar? Well, because I wanted that night to be just plain and simple and fun. Nothing more, nothing less.

 Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying our regular games aren’t a barrel of laughs, they are,  I swear, but that night I wanted us to be KISS… KISS without the makeup. Why? So we could just focus on the music for a change instead of the show.

 It’s partly my fault.  I tend to get caught up a few days before the game and create these fekkin’ elaborate missions and set pieces, and then I sit there trying my hardest to make sure that everyone else is having fun, that I forget to have fun myself.

So, as I said, this night was different. I bought some large bits of cardboard, colour-copied some dungeon tiles, gathered all my Hirst/Warhammer/LOTR bits-and-bobs and made a huge dungeon for them to go through. I pulled out all my Mantic/LOTR/Reaper miniatures and went to town. We had Beholders, Serpent Gods, Zombies by the score, Statues breathing fire, and Statues breathing cold, to name but a few.

The premise was simple: Seven Keys need to be collected for them to enter the Tomb of the Foreign God. Each key was around the neck of a Boss type creature that they had to slay to get the key. Every room had a monster, every corridor a trap, it was Hack and Slash in its purest form. And? It was glorious.

Everyone knew where they stood from the outset because I told them that it was going to be ‘Loot & Scoot’, nothing more complicated than that. If it moves? Beat it. If it sparkles? Take it. If it looks like a trap? It probably is. I also let them roll for their own treasure using Kelvin Green’s really cool Drop Table. My players had never seen one before so there was the added excitement of that as well. I rolled in the open too, and that really made them sit up and take notice. 

The result of that night? Well, it was carnage on both fronts. The thief got sneak-attacked by a vampire of my own creation and lost four points of intelligence. We lost a fighter/squire to a Crypt-Keeper, (a level draining Mummy type beastie) who also managed to drain two entire levels from the ranger as well as the already maimed thief. 

One of the mages went off wandering where he shouldn’t have been wandering, and woke what shouldn’t have been woken. It slithered, cast a sleep spell, and is about to eviscerate him, oh, and I almost forgot, I used my Mask Table. I rolled, and they found the Mask of the Whipping Boy. This promptly got stuck on Felonious’ face for a joke… well, let’s just say that no one’s laughing now!

In short? A great time was had by all, and I felt that I got to relieve a little steam from the pressure cooker. You couldn’t do this for every session because you’d just get bored with it, but for once in a while? I highly recommend it.

Thieves Tools Part 2: A 'Sorcererful' of Secrets

This is our Magic-user's kit. Small vials filled with Green-slime, Ashes of the Wake, Carcosa seeds, and of course a box of dried mushrooms. Whether they are magic or not, I'm not sure, you'll have to ask him after he stops staring at the goblin in the corner of the room. Everything here I found second hand for dirt cheap. The most expensive prop there is the 'spell-book' that was given to me as a a gift a few years back. The small brass weights that are used on a scale, as well as the mortar and pestle, were found in a second-hand retro kitchen shop, up a dark alley in Kalk Bay, Cape Town.

If you look a little closer, there are several  spice containers that I re-purposed. Just peel off the stickers, add some water with food colouring, or some brightly coloured powder and you can make up some spell components. I also added some crystals, sea-shells, and some semi-precious stones like Tiger's eye etc. The liquid in the bottles and potion bottles actually glows when you dim the lights. Just cut open several Glow Sticks, add it to the appropriate container and just pour in some water that you have dyed. Do not stir. Dim the lights, and voila, glowing potion bottles.

This is the Ranger's props. The obligatory rope, a tiki-torch that I converted into something more dungeonesque by cutting it down and adding string to the handle. The hand-axe is for woodcraft, not combat, and it actually has a crowbar attachment on top, and a hammer on the right. Three in one, and handy as all hell! Then he has a pewter mug that just looked cool when the moment I saw it and a real corn-cob pipe that the player likes to use during the game. Not for smoking mind you, he likes to point it at people with the stem when he's making a point. He has a small skinning knife, and some hand-beaten links and circles that I have no idea what they are for in real life, but they looked suitably fantastical so I bought them. he has a tin plate, compact eating utensils, spare wicks for his lantern and some more wooden handled knives for gutting animals.

I also made him a tin called, " Fisherman's Friend" that is filled with hooks, lead-shot weights, and some swivels. Inside the small paper wrapping in the tin is some fishing line.  seeing as the ranger does all the hunting for the group, I thought a Ranger survival kit would be an apt prop. He also has a small green lantern that he can use.

This is our Cleric's kit. He has a leather-bound prayer book, a wooden goblet, incense and incense holder, a box containing a vial of holy water ( actually an old perfume bottle and box), a sand-timer, a small wooden box with candles on top that is his portable altar, a tankard, a glass vial, some prayer beads, a golden chain of anointing, and lastly his Holy Symbol. he chose a triangle, so I scoured the earth looking for one, and lo and behold! I actually found one made of metal that began life as a curtain rod decoration. I suppose it's all a matter of perception when it comes to props.

A side view of his  portable priestly belongings.

Then for our Halloween game I found these for the walls. It was quite appropriate as we were in the " Tomb of the Dread Knight" and it was filled with Spectres and Wights. These glow in the dark too. They are fairly big , at least five and a half feet and you just stick them to the wall.

The other one that I found. Looks like he is coming for you.

A cool cut-away to a dungeon scene, with some skulls and bones on the steps.

Loot!

I have collected so much that it now stands on it's own table off to the side. When the players arrive, their sheets, notebooks, miniatures, pencils and erasers are all laid out waiting for them. I also bought miniature treasure chests for their dice. Inside the chests are miniature torches, gems and coins, and rations so we can track that stuff in-game. They just pass it on up to me when used.

This is like the carrot in front of the donkey, keeps 'em highly motivated.

This is what I use for a DM's screen. A Warhammer Fortress.

And here it is again, in its entirety, a few seconds before we dim the lights, light the candles and commence play.

Thieves tools, complete with candle snuffer, crowbar, hand axe, and the ever important fondue sticks! There is also a bird whistle that I bought from a street vendor in Saigon that I thought was a nifty little piece of thief kit when you want to give someone a signal.

What it looks like from my view point with all my tools to hand.There is also a classic arcade game in the background that we play while waiting for the group to arrive. Pac-Man, Space Invaders etc, all late seventies and early eighties games only.

Thieves Tools

What all the best dressed thieves are rockin' this season.

Our group doesn't get to play as much as we want. Sadly, it is only once a month if we are lucky. So we when do get together, I like to make it something memorable for my players by pulling out all the stops. Each character at the table get a set of props appropriate to their profession. This is what I have been collecting for our resident thief and degenerate gambler, Shade DuMond.
I scour second-hand stores, thrift stores, you name  it, and I usually find some pretty interesting stuff.  With a little modelling here, and there, you can  fashion something that would not be out of place  as a thief's possession. All of the items I give/make for the players can be used in-game, which makes for some pretty interesting role-playing.

"For those who work at night..." Official seal of the local thieves guild on his lock-pick container.

Caution! Acid. For all those truly stubborn locks that just wont budge.

 A Cat's Eye Lantern that can be dimmed in a pinch. Perfect for those nights when the clouds are covering the moon.

A tiny hammer and spikes for setting traps, as well as some alarm bells to warn the thief when someone is coming.

Some long handled cutting tools for disarming those sneaky traps. As well as a tea strainer that just looked so cool that I had to have it. A real glass cutter and a pulley.

Some wire, bolts, and a handy crampon with a 2-inch pulley attached

Some Lamp Black, another handy tool for a thief, as well as some hooks and thin cotton for snagging light objects.

The obligatory ransom demands. How else do sneaky thieves they make cash in their down time?

A tankard for that after-action satisfaction.

And this is what it's all about, coins and gems. The coins I found at a party shop (pirate coins), the rest is costume jewelry and fake plastic gemstones that you use for a fish-tank. The rest is just bits of interesting items I find for cheap, here and there; small treasure chests, skull-potion bottles etc.