Pilot creation (OOC thread)

May 23, 2024 9:15 pm
[ +- ] Night Witches
Bully pulpit games have a few important free pdfs we can reference to:

1. List of moves which includes soviet names for the characters, details for the planes and even a description of the game flow (we will go through this during training)

2. The playbooks for each "class"
May 23, 2024 9:47 pm
Welcome everyone!

I'm setting this game up, but I guess we can all start slowly thinking about the characters.
May 23, 2024 9:52 pm
Lets take the character creations slowly as I set up the training base :D

First option is your character's nature.

Each Nature has a character playbook that includes a different selection of Moves, Marks, and options. Every player should choose one at the start of play. It is fine to have more than one player with a given Nature, but getting every type into the game is probably more fun. Once chosen, you’ll keep the same Nature throughout the game. Once a Hawk, always a Hawk.Each Nature has its own traits and instincts. All birds love to fly.

* Hawks are decisive and tough, simultaneously showy and precise in their actions. They are also obsessive hunters who strike without warning.

* Quiet and observant, Owls are among the most contemplative of birds. Unlike Hawks, they are happy to watch and wait. Owls are solitary predators who feast on the bones of the weak.

* Pigeons are gregarious and not afraid to get their feathers dirty—resourceful and down to earth. They are also vaguely ridiculous and most comfortable in a crowd.

* Ravens are intelligent and curious, acquisitive, and confident. Unlike Sparrows, they aren’t afraid to make a scene. They are also carrion birds with a stubborn disregard for propriety.

* Graceful, unobtrusive, and discreet, Sparrows tend to be everywhere or nowhere. They are also nervous, timid, and prone to flying away at the first sign of trouble
May 23, 2024 11:47 pm
Thanks for the invitation! I finally opened my book today! It was still in the packaging.

I think I'll try the Hawk. A pilot who files straight in, full of guts and glory, risking it all to win!
May 24, 2024 1:40 am
Thanks for running the game CESN. Looking forward to it. I found my book and will start relearning the rules.

I am torn between an Owl and a Raven. If someone else wants one of those, I'll be happy to defer.
May 24, 2024 2:43 am
Thanks for the invitation CESN! Looking forward to this. Lemme get to looking at character options.
May 24, 2024 1:41 pm
Thanks CESN, great that we can play such an interesting game. Nobody seems interested in pigeon, so I’ll go for that. I can already imagine a character based on the concept.
May 24, 2024 3:58 pm
Hamish says:
will start relearning the rules.
🤣 that's what I have to do as well. Little refresh. Well I guess most of you have an idea of what nature to pick. Next step its the character's role.
Roles are social obligations that your airwomen naturally fall into as part of a group. The combination of Nature and Role gives your character a clear identity and purpose in the story. In contrast to your Nature, which never changes, your Role may shift over the course of the game. If you wish, you can change your Role when you change Duty Stations.

* Adventurers live to fly. If they aren’t behind the yoke and throttle of an airplane they are thinking about how to get behind the yoke and throttle of an airplane. Play an Adventurer if you were born to fly and aren’t afraid of anything. As an Adventurer, you are adept at the Wheels Down Move and Advance between Duty Stations if, at some point, you walked away from an utterly wrecked aircraft.

* In addition to nightly clouds over German targets, Dreamers have their heads in clouds of their own making. Sometimes those dreams come in handy, though. Sometimes they come true. Play a Dreamer if things other than the here and now distract you, and you don’t care if this gets you in trouble. As a Dreamer, you’ll fare better under NKVD questioning. You’re flexible. Their reality can be your reality if that’s what they want. (NKVD are the secret services. They have an regimental officer spying on everyone)

* Leaders are born to lead and assume command naturally, whether they have been assigned to or not. Leaders often end up in charge of Squadrons or Sections or serve the Regiment as general officers. Being selected to lead others is a serious honor Leaders covet. As a Leader, you inspire others during Attack Runs and Advance between Duty Stations if, at some point, someone under your direct command died.

* Misanthropes are a refreshing tonic for the hidebound madness of the Red Army Air Force. Cynical, iconoclastic, and against the grain, they always know a better way, although they may not care enough to try it. Play a Misanthrope if you know it all and don’t care if your hands get dirty. As a Misanthrope, you are an excellent Scrounger and Advance between Duty Stations if, at some point, you bucked against the patriarchy and got in trouble for it.

* Protectors have a fierce loyalty to their sisters-in-arms and are driven to apply their skill and courage in the service of something bigger than themselves. For them the war is personal. Play a Protector if you’d rather take a bullet yourself than see a comrade hurt. As a Protector, you are handy with aircraft Repair and Advance between Duty Stations if, at some point, you saved someone’s life.

* Zealots understand that their real mission is to help develop political consciousness across the Regiment while diligently rooting out intrigues by reactionaries and wreckers, knowing that the unity of all the forces of democracy is the most reliable weapon in the struggle against reaction, and in the struggle for freedom and peace throughout the world. Play a Zealot if you are content with being hated and feared in order to do the right thing. As a Zealot you are skilled at raising morale through snitching and Advance between Duty Stations if, at some point, you interest the NKVD in a member of the Regiment.
May 24, 2024 11:28 pm
Since I already said guts and glory are going to be her thing, then let's go with Hawk Adventurer!

She will be someone who is a bit of an adrenaline junky. She doesn't really care about politics, but rather the rush of combat and the wind in her hair. Passionate, fiery, and probably a bit of a troublemaker, at least insofar that she doesn't care about rules and regs.
Last edited May 25, 2024 5:14 pm
May 25, 2024 12:36 am
A Sparrow Misanthrope for sure!
May 25, 2024 11:36 am
I’d quite like to go with Pigeon Dreamer. She’s an idealistic worker poet who has a naive faith in the USSR and the collective future of humanity. She doesn’t quite understand why the state is sometimes so brutal or the NKVD so vigilant against dissent. Comrade Stalin would surely rein them in if he knew of their harshness (she believes ). Surely peoples around the world just want to be happy, kind and share their good fortune together. This is why the triumph of World Communism is inevitable. She creates poetry— well written, but ridiculously naive to many—to this effect.
Last edited May 25, 2024 11:39 am
May 25, 2024 8:49 pm
I might make my Raven a Protector. Her desire to defend her comrades and her penchant for acting up could create some some interesting situations.
May 26, 2024 12:37 pm
Ok cool. I think we are all set. Just keep in mind that your nature doesn't change, but your role can change! For example, the Raven Protector's desire to defend her comrades can turn her into a Raven Zealot later on if she aligns with the NKVD's methods for example.

The training base has a very well detailed progression which should touches the rules we go so I guess can start thinking about setting that up. There's a character sheet template set up you guy can use to fill in an submit a character. The playbooks have a lot of suggestions to add flavor to the description for each nature, so be sure to check them
[ +- ] MAKE PLAYER CHARACTERS
May 26, 2024 1:06 pm
According to the document CESN gave us, there's 34 female names and 65 surnames. You can roll randomly with that.

Name: Dasha "Dash" Bobkova
Uniform: Flashy
Body: Lanky
Eyes: Calculating
Home Town: Zhelenogorsk District, Kursk Oblast
Who You Write to Back Home: your son, Maksim
Last edited May 26, 2024 3:16 pm

Rolls

Name! - (1d34, 1d65)

1d34 : (20) = 20

1d65 : (13) = 13

Uniform - (1d4)

(4) = 4

Body - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Eyes - (1d6)

(2) = 2

Home Town - (1d5)

(4) = 4

Who You Write to Back Home - (1d5)

(2) = 2

May 26, 2024 1:12 pm
As the GM is also supposed to have a backup replacement character, I have made made Dasha, the Own Zealot. She is a higher rank as I'm not expecting to need her during training. The idea is that whenever one of your character needs replacement for any reason, I step in and you take on the GM role.

Sergeant Yegorova looks like a graceful and ingenuous city girl from Moscow, but she is quietly observing everyone. She understand that the people's struggle is a long-term one and is more than happy to bid her time and wait for the best opportunity to strike against the enemies of the Motherland, both external and internal...
If you can't find anything online, the game has an handout with profiles to pick from.

Rolls

Name! - (1d34, 1d65)

1d34 : (21) = 21

1d65 : (28) = 28

May 26, 2024 5:00 pm
What do these statements mean?

"You can bring a plane Wheels Down well"
"As an Adventurer, you are adept at the Wheels Down Move."

I know what Wheels Down is as a move, I just don't know what it means to do it well or to be adept at it. Is there some sort of mechanical benefit I get for it?
May 26, 2024 11:09 pm
My pigeon will be:


Galina ("Gayla") Malinovskaya
Uniform - none, wears worker’s overalls.
Body- Frail
Hands - Steady [edited]
Home Town - Bratsk
Who You Write to Back Home - sister Sonya
Last edited May 27, 2024 12:58 am
May 26, 2024 11:10 pm
Bookrat says:
I know what Wheels Down is as a move, I just don't know what it means to do it well or to be adept at it. Is there some sort of mechanical benefit I get for it?
Found it! It’s on the move consequences. Adventurers, being more adept, take less 1 consequence on a near miss

" On 7-9, you break the plane; and choose two consequences (Adventurers choose one)"
May 26, 2024 11:16 pm
OrangeTree says:
Eyes - Blue? Options not in playbook
I noticed all playbooks have a different body part 😅 most likely related to the bird/personality, but I haven’t checked all of them

for pigeon it’s HANDS:
Expressive, filthy, calloused, steady, nervous, delIcate
May 26, 2024 11:16 pm
Thanks GM!
OrangeTree says:
Eyes - Blue? Options not in playbook
Different playbooks have different options. Like one of them had Face instead of Eyes. It's on the free PDF the GM provided in the first post. :)
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