WWWII scenario in the works.

[Wraith]

I have been working on a WWWII scenario for a few months that I plan to run at Whose Yer Con this year using Savage Worlds.

The goal is to get the Savage crew to put this up on their site for free, just to get my name out there.

Anyway, here is a teaser.

Background:

Channel Islands, Caesarea, Circa 56 BC: As Gaius Julius Caesar fought his wars in Gaul, he set about  exterminating the Druids because they would not reveal their secret lore to him. The surviving Druids were driven to the far west  of Gaul where they found their final refuge on what are now known as the Channel islands. The High Druid, Diviciacus, set about fashioned a curse that would be brought down  upon the bearers of the eagle;  (the roman legions  led by Caesar). Initial Roman expeditions to the island of Augia did not reveal the hiding place of the high druid and the island was named Caesarea (Caesar’s island) by the Roman troops. It eventually became known as Jersey. Before the curse came to fruition, Caesar marched on Rome never to  return.  Diviciacus died soon after and was buried in a secret crypt below a shrine where the Romans could never desecrate his remains  if they returned. The ritual to complete the  curse of Balor was thus left incomplete and it fell out of the knowledge of man. 
 
Channel Islands, Jersey (Caesarea) , May 1944:  The Channel islands have been occupied by the German army since 1940 and fortified with defensive gun emplacements that overlook the English channel. The island of Jersey has a state of the art communication bunker and  listening post that  the Nazis are using to intercept radio traffic across the  English channel.  Due to the upcoming, top secret  “Operation Neptune”, our heroes have been detailed to take out this  listening post on the  shores of Jersey and find out if the Germans are privy to the operation.

What our heroes don’t know, is that Hitler’s henchman, Heinrich Himmler has ordered a group of his Occult  Nazis to  Jersey Island to research ancient Drudic magics. The group has taken up residence in the communications bunker and is using it as their base of operations. Having already unearthed information about the  Druidic curse of Balor,  they plan to use it in  their war efforts. Their plan is to reinact the ancient Drudic ritual  Boaldyn (Beltane, month of May) in an effort to call the demon Balor  from the abyss to inhabit a simulacra made of  human bodies.

The ritual to create the simulacra and call forth Balor involves a large wicker man filled with human sacrifices. The Germans have rounded up Jersey  islanders for this purpose.  Once the wicker man  is filled with victims, Beltane ritual will take place that calls the demon forth to possess the bodies housed in the wicker man.  According to the Arcane writings, the burning of the Wicker man  will cause the victims within to reform into a monstrous creature that Balor will possess. Before the actual burning takes place, the Nazis plan to airlift the simulacra to England using a huge autogyro and burn it there on the mainland, thus releasing Balor to ravage the English countryside.
Our heroes will discover the occult operation as they strive to complete their primary objectives. Their mission will take a turn as they try to bring about the destruction of the new horror that the Nazis plan to  unleash upon Britain. 

[General M@yhem]

I'd love to know more.I hail from Jersey so nice to read about a scenario set in the island. Also a fan of savage worlds so looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

[Wraith]

My scenarios are always clues based and contain myriads of handouts which contain clues for the players to decipher and learn whats really going on.
My home crew gamers love it, butI have found that folks that arent used to it get flamboozled by the clues like a deer in the headlights.
My M.O. is to have the storyline, and those things in Red Denote a handout

The scenario and handouts are almost complete, and a buddy is working up sets for the game.

Player intro:

May 1944: Our heroes are part of a team of elite soldiers that has been assembled for a secret mission to the German held Channel islands. There primary objective: Infiltrate the communication bunker on Jersey and recover any  intelligence from the listening post files to find out if the Nazis have discovered anything about “Operation Neptune”, an upcoming offensive. The team will be air dropped from a high altitude glider at night or approach via stealthy 2-man canoes. Either way, they will have to land undetected and navigate the German defenses to a  communications bunker. After fulfilling their primary objective,  they are to  destroy the antenna on the roof and possibly the bunker itself to deprive the Germans of its further use.
During the briefing, the team will receive a Commando Map. The front shows the ranges of the Channel Island artillery defenses and  the range of the Jersey Island listening post. The back has a diagram of Jersey Island’s bunkers and the site of the listening post. (NW corner of the island, called “The Pinnacle” ) At least one of the team will be issued the infamous De’Lisle Carbine (Silenced, .45ACP built on a Lee Enfield action, using Colt 1911 magazines) to aid their infiltration efforts.
(Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day). A 12,000-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving almost 7,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June; more than three million troops were in France by the end of August)

 

[Weird WWII]

Sounds a bit similar to the WWWII flick "The Devil's Rock".

Sounds like a fun mission,
Brian

[Wraith]

The Devil's Rock is what sparked the idea in my buddy's mind. So he asked me to work up a scenario set in the Channel Islands with a bunker and I took it from there.
 
Wraith.

[Wraith]

Ok, so I have come up with an abbreviated "1-page adventure" version of this scenario.
If your interested, PM me and I'll send you a PDF of it.

[Wraith]

Scene 1: Once on Jersey, the team leader will have to decide on their approach to the bunker. However they do this, they will discover sewage draining from a vine covered ledge. If they investigate they will discover that the vines hide an Ancient Lintle. The lintle is the doorway to a hewn cavern that turns out to be a tomb. The Cavern winds off into the darkness and is actually the tomb of the ancient Druid Diviciacus.  [A notice roll will reveal that the cavern terminates somewhere below the Bunker  situated on the cliffs above.] The S.S. Blood Mage commanding the Thule-Gesellschaf has been searching for the tomb but has yet to discover it. He has no idea it is below the foundations of the bunker that is  built upon the ruins of an unknown shrine.]

Upon entering the cave it will be noticed that water laced with Diesel oil is seeping from a fissure in the back wall. [The smallest character in the group will be able to squirm into the fissure and upward to discover it leads to a large floor drain in the sub-level of the Bunker directly above. Only this character can enter the bunker in this way.]

Inside the coffin are the tattooed remains of  the ancient Druid Diviciacus, a golden sickle, a bag of ancient coins and a gold eagle.[A history roll will reveal the following: Druids harvested sacred herbs for their magical rites with a golden sickle. The coins are stamped with the image of Julius Caesar. (Latin IVLIUS) as well as the Roman eagle. The golden eagle is an Aquila, the standard of the Roman legions.]

If they search the tomb, they will find a  black stone inscribed with runes and covered with a drawing of a horseman holding a bird. [A history roll will reveal the horseman to be a Roman cavalryman holding an Aquila standard of the Roman legions.]

[An arcane roll will allow  translation of the runes which reveal the names; Balor Diviciacus and Boaldyn. Diviciacus was the last high Druid that fought against Julius Caesar in Gaul. Boaldyn was the Celtic festival celebrated on the evening of May 1st with the burning of a wicker man. The name Balor refers to an ancient demon of Celtic origins. Runes were used for magic only, as other things were passed on verbally.]

Scene 2: The Communications Bunker is situated on the northwest promitory called The Pinnacle and is  comprised of 4 levels of reinforced concrete with  thick steel doors at all levels and stairs leading from level to level. Heavy machine guns protrude out of gun ports around its northwestern face. Upon the roof is a square antenna that is used to “listen in” to radio transmissions as far away as the English mainland. Sentrys prowl the grounds, peer from the windows and perch on the upper level of the bunker. Any shots fired from firearms other than the De’Lisle carbine will alert the Germans to the presence of a hostile force and they will lock the door at ground level.

Sub-level is the generator room. Area 1 contains barrels of diesel fuel as well as crates of spare parts for  the electrical and  mechanical equipment in the bunker. The generator is in area 2, as is the floor grate that drains into the tomb directly below.

Ground level is entered from the outside via stairs at area 3. Area 4 contains the living quarters of the soldiers as well as a makeshift cell holding 20 islanders.  Area 5 houses machine guns pointing seaward. If the heroes entered through the door at area 3, there will be a shoot  out with the six German soldiers from area 4 as well as the two machine gunners from the area 5 gunports. The  fire fight will unfortunately get a few of the islanders who will be screaming and causing general mayhem in their cell. Ammunition and general supplies can be scavenged from this level Before they can free all the hostages, they will be surprised by another German soldier coming down the stairs from the second level. 
Second level contains the control room which is filled with all manner of electrical equipment as well as secret files of overheard transmissions for the heroes to find. Operation Neptune remains undiscovered by the Nazis. The Radio equipment is behind the wall at the top of the stairs in area 6. The heroes will hear Morris code  as they climb the stairs. When they exit the stairwell, they will be fired upon by an SS officer. Once a firefight erupts,  The radio operator will also pull out a Luger and shoot at the heroes as he begins throwing  documents into a burning trash can. Once the heroes take out the 2 soldiers, they can put out the trash-can fire  and peruse some of the burnt documents, which will contain a clue. [ Give them a quick rundown of The occult Nazi Plan]

Upper level houses the Occult room of the Thule-Gesellschaft in area 8. The room is filled with all matter of occult paraphernalia. When they enter, a man dressed in Luftwaffen outfit will be going out the door to area 9.  A Nazi occultist [Apprehentice Blood-Mage] will be in area 8 and will fight to the death to prevent the heroes from following the pilot out the door. Searching through the occult paraphernalia will reveal: a Wooden model of a man, a Nazi eagle statue and a book about Caesar’s Gallic wars in Latin.         [A history or arcane roll will reveal the marked pages in the book speaking of the Druidic tradition of burning a wicker man with victims inside] Area 9 is the open air parapeted roof of the bunker. The heroes will see the Heavy lift autogyro taking off and heading west before they can get the door open, it is barred from the outside. Once they get outside, they will see bonfires a mile or so distant atop a mountain in the thick forested area to the east where the auto-gyro is heading. The heroes may rest assured that their mission is complete after blowing up the antenna on top of area 8. 
If the heroes decide to follow the auto-gyro to the bonfires they will find the sacred grove of the Druids after hiking a mile to the south-east.

The Sacred Grove Is where the ritual of Boaldyn will take place. Within a 100’ ring of ancient oak trees lay  a circle of monoliths. Though old, they are not overgrown. The area within is cleared of vegetation. In the center is a huge man built of wicker and filled with screaming islanders. Near the wicker-man are drums of fuel. A dozen machine gun armed German soldiers guard the perimeter of the sacred grove. An officer [S.S. Blood-Mage, page 92, Savage Worlds Weird War two] arrayed as a druid in a white robe will be finishing up the incantation of Balor, screaming words in an unknown tongue as the heroes make it to the sacred grove. The Blood-Mage is attended by two Thule-Gesellschaft troopers and a color guard bearing a Nazi eagle on a pole and the Nazi flag.


What the Germans don’t know is that the curse of Balor will be levied upon THEM. In ancient times, the bearers of the eagle were the Romans, but the Germans have taken on some of the trappings of ancient Rome, including the eagle as their symbol. The Germans have therefore become the bearers of the eagle invading the island of Augia!


If the heroes do nothing, the auto-gyro will descend and soldiers will hook cables to the wicker-man. It will then carry the wooden effigy to Britain and set it alight…the countryside will be ravaged. If the heroes start a fire-fight, the drums of fuel will unfortunately be hit and the wicker-man will burst into flames. The crackling of the wood will be drowned out by the tortured screams of the victims, who cannot be saved at this point.  As the last of the wicker burns away, the truth of the ritual will be revealed. The bodies of the condemned have fused into the abomination that is Balor. [Fire Elemental page 147 Savage Worlds Explorers edition] If the heroes attack the monster, it will fight back, otherwise it attacks the Germans, since they bear the eagle. Once all the Germans on the island have been destroyed by the Fire Elemental, it disperses. Our heroes can return to Britain knowing that  Operation Neptune will be successful and that another Nazi threat has been destroyed.

[Wraith]

The guys over at Modiphius are interested in my bunker scenario and are going to work with me to get it into their 2014 submission que.

Crossing my fingers.

Wraith

[General M@yhem]

The guys over at Modiphius are interested in my bunker scenario and are going to work with me to get it into their 2014 submission que.

Crossing my fingers.

Wraith

Well done, sir. Nice piece of work you've produced.Been meaning to send you a PM as I wanted to take some pics of the area in the island where your scenario takes place. Will try and go up there to take some snaps.