Play.Fearless

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Straight Outta Kalisz: SitRep 04
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Straight Outta Kalisz: SitRep 04

Sunken costs in the WW III that never was.

Mad Jay
May 28
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Straight Outta Kalisz: SitRep 04
playfearless.substack.com

Tracy, Bard, Janusz, and Justin have survived 30+ days since the fall of Kalisz. Bard has taken the most arms fire, Tracey survived two headshots by wearing a helmet both times. They’ve adopted Jakob, a Polish reservist that looks up to Janusz, our doctor. Antoni, a Polish refugee with possible memory damage - also likes Janusz but calls him ‘Mikolai’. And Anne, an American kid, one of three kids the team found on their “shopping trips” into Rawicz. They recently gave the two boys over to a neighboring village for safety. The village however didn’t want to take the American kid. It’s early November. They eat hand-to-mouth. Water isn’t an issue, the camp is a nicely abandoned building on a cistern in the woods. They are helping that neighbor village build a still in return for food. And then newcomers arrive to alter the situation.

snapshot of base camp now with more weather!

Bard, our Swedish scout cannot infiltrate the snipers’ nest set up a few hundred meters from the cistern camp. Tracey spotted a soviet truck unloading six, armed folks on the main road some yards from their camp, one with a sniper rifle. These people set up in the woods just off the road. Bard was scouting to discover the strength and the agenda of these newcomers. The troops spot Bard and chase him off with aggressive gunfire but they don’t chase him. Mechanics-wise, the sniper group had at least a shift to set up, which makes it incredibly hard to sneak up on them.

The players have a real in-character and IRL talk about their current camp security. The cistern facility where they are camped out has easy water, but lots of traffic lately from folks hunting the woods, refugees, a possible bear, and now some kind of soldier team embedded in the woods. The term sunken costs comes up in fun and seriousness. Justin (CIA) and Tracey(Army mechanic) explore further west of the base camp and find a deserted farming community…thoughts turn to relocating the camp there. No mechanics here, all growing fictional situations. Those cards in the deck of encounters can be random AF, but it’s my role as GM to tie them to the current situations, character’s big dreams, and moral codes. I don’t have a plot, just situations I keep cooking and adding to. I am prepping that little western farming community they’ve discovered. Twilight: 2000 has mechanics for developing scenario sites, the second pillar of game content. These are like traditional short adventures but are tightly focused on a location and the folks located there. I did this once for “Barnes America” the town south of the cistern camp where a US Army force and Polish civilians had an alliance. I’ll post what that looks like after I know we’re done with that location.

We were down our Polish doctor player this last session. He brings the act(non-violent) and talk first before shooting sensibilities! Cracking a force that’s looking for trouble and prepared for it is TOUGH. That group of troopers had more Good frustration over WTF do these new folks want and what is that sniper for? are part of the player conversations. The highlight of the session for me was when three of the four players postponed relocating the camp until the missing player returns to vote too. I was fascinated by this. How many times has this happened in your games? Where the group will wait until the missing player returns before acting on a thing?

Play Fearless

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