A Child Dreams of Passchendaele

I was a strange child.

At a very young age I became deeply infatuated with military history. My favorite toy was two broom handles taped together that I pretended was a musket.

A musket.

Other kids had laser guns and transformers. My make believe was the French and Indian wars.

Aside from daydreams about pre-twentieth century gentlemen stylishly murdering each other, my young mind also thought often about the trench warfare of the First World War. Something about stalwart Tommies finding shelter and camaraderie in a muddy hole while death ripped the air above them spoke to me on an unexplainable level.

My childhood bed had a wooden headboard, and often as I lay to sleep I would imagine the headboard a trench wall. As I fell asleep German artillery would scream overhead.

Like I said, strange child.

So the Great War has always slunk around my mind. Barb wire, A Farewell to Arms, MG 08’s and Edwardian Aristocrats mixing with mundane perversions, anxieties and the general detritus of a white mans 21st century mental landscape.

I think I’ve got something with the firearm rules in A Last Pale Light. Exploding damage and constitution as hit points seems to hit the sweet spot in D&D mechanics for making a game of the lethality of the gun but still allowing a bit of staying power in combat.

So now I’m back to those summer nights of childhood. Writing a WW1 game for D&D. It will be a game about platoon level combat, and the relationships between soldiers on the Western Front. It will also just be a middle aged man exploring a childhood fantasy.

Like all good RPGs.

I am going to write a few blog post about the character classes. Characters are generated one of two ways.

Fit for Duty?

Method One: Roll 2d6+6 in order for ability scores. If you do this gain 1 XP.

Method Two: Roll 3d6 six times and assign scores to abilities as you see fit. If you have ability score penalties  totaling more than -6 you are not fit for active duty. Use method two but do not gain 1 XP.

STR adds a bonus to melee hit and damage

DEX add to missile hit and damage

CON hit points equal con plus CON bonus

INT affects how many languages you understand (very useful in a multination army fighing a culutre the speaks another language.)

WIS affects resistance to shellshock as well as other class skills

CHA affects the ability to lead and rally NPC soldiers and deal with HQ.

Players will then select or randomly determine a background.

1d6	Background	Ability Modifier	Bonus
1	Laborer	+1 STR	+1 HP
2	Industrial Worker	+1 DEX	Bond (trade union or family)
3	Farmer	+1 CON	Food
4	Student	+1 INT	Bond (sweetheart or fellow student)
5	Bourgeois	+1 WIS	Money
6	Aristocrat	+1 CHA	Leave

(Money, Food, Leave, and Bond’s all have mechanics associated with them.)

Experience is earned in a way similar to a Last Pale Light, that is the player selects a goal from a list at the beginning of the game. At the end of the game session the table discusses if they met the goal and if so they earn XP. XP rewards and  level requirements are low (it takes 3 XP to hit level 2, you get 1 XP for accomplishing a goal.)   All classes share the same XP chart and have the same “Proficiency Bonus” that is added to attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws.

The Working Title of the game is Lead & Steel from a Siegfried Sassoon poem called "The Kiss".

So, here is the first of the classes.  

Tommy / Poilu

You are one of the millions of men in uniform. You might have volunteered in the heady late summer of ’14 or you may have been conscripted from the farm or factory. You were quickly trained in close order formation, marksmanship, and the bayonet. Lofty Generals and Politicians made speeches at you about duty and glory then dressed you in a uniform and shipped you to the front. Despite their grandiose words, you haven’t seen them since. Turns out it is you that bears the actual burden of this war, you who trudge through the mud and the blood, you who have learned to live with act of killing. If your mind doesn’t break from the terror of shells, and your flesh isn’t flensed by a Hun machine gun then with the help of your squad mates you just might survive. At the front, you have forgotten about King and Country or L'union sacrée, all that matters any more are the brothers on either side of you who share the terrible burden.

Attribute: None. Anyone who is fit for duty may be a Tommy/Poilu.

Equipment: Infantry Uniform, Rifle, Bayonet

Rank: Private / Soldat 2eme.

Skills

Tough – Life on the front either turns men into steel or it kills them. The Tommy/Poilu may add his Proficiency bonus to his hit point total.

Brothers in Arms – The shared experience of war forges a deep connection between soldiers. The Tommy/Poilu fights for the man beside him. When thye makes a bond with another player, they get 2d6 bond dice rather than 1d6.

Training –Even at the front the soldier is constantly being subjected to training. British Tommies add a +1 to Hit with the rifle; French Poilus add a +1 to hit with the bayonet.