Dresden Files: WW2 edition.

[Couchman]

So, I've decided to start a DF campaign set during WW2. My players and I have already come up with some pretty cool ideas, but I'm always looking for more inspiration. Anyone have any cool ideas?

[Tedronai]

That's a busy era, but the nature of thy activities varies immensely depending on where you are.

A WW2-era game set in Poland will look quite a bit different from one set in Italy, Japan, the UK...(you get the picture, I'm sure)

You can do a lot of things supernatural-ising the events of the era, too, and can end up sending some very different messages depending on who (or what) was responsible for what activity.  This can be some surprisingly delicate ground to tread, depending on your group, so don't get too careless, here.

[Couchman]

Right, probably should have given more detail.

The group is going to be a sort of special operations group working for the Allies. It's going to be starting off in the European theater, during early 1942. It's not going to be centered on a singular city, but instead is going to be more mission based, taking them all over Europe. However, the group will be spending time in certain locations, such as London. I'm also planning on getting into some action in the North African/Mediterranean theater, and possibly the Pacific theater later on.

One of the players specifically wants to do something involving stealing a supernatural superweapon from the Nazis, in a somewhat Indiana Jones fashion, which I (and the other players agree) is a cool idea.

[Wyntonian]

Damn, that sounds like a really awesome idea. Have fun, and let us know how it goes!

[Richard_Chilton]

There's an unreleased short story about a German wizard (Klaus the Toymaker, whose name was mentioned on the "he could join the Senior Council" read off in Summer Knight) taking on some SS sorcerers who were fooling around with demons - to enforce the Laws of Magic.

One of the odd bits of the DF is that Jim has indicated that wizards mostly sat on the sideline during the war.  While many setting (WW's Mage setting comes to mind) has nationalist mages helping out on the homefront (and covertly in the field) the White Council seems to have spent a lot of its time going "Mortal governments are calling the shots and we have it leave things to them".   The White Council didn't want nationalism tearing it apart so it did little or nothing during the war - other than go "F this, Kemmler's back!!!!".

With Kemmler having a hand in WWII you could easily go after Kemmlite wannabees and other dark sorcerers.  Or, if you want to pulp it out, you could watch the Captain America movie and draw inspiration from his struggles with the occult group behind the Red Skull.

Then again, pulp wise my current favourite Weird WWII can be found by searching on "Tales of the Red Panda".  It's an audio production that was started before "pod cast" was a word and while the setting is more superhero than occult, they have WWII starting after that world's equivalent of the White Council is destroyed by a Nazis who mixes super science with magic.

Richard

[Auspice]

I'm totally going to steal that idea sometime!

As for advice, if there are wizards in the group the neutrality that Richard mentioned is going to be a HUGE factor.  Remember that Injun Joe sat back while European invaders slaughtered his people with guns and biological warfare.  Maybe even some on the council might think that a participating wizard needs to be stopped for fear of the ramifications.

Richard also mentioned Kemmler which is an awesome way to go.

Hitler was known for seeking out occult items in the real world.  Maybe that can play into it.

I would also like to introduce something else.  The following is not meant to be offensive but instead shake up actual history into something unexpected.  Let me give you my brother's statements on what really happened in World War II.  (Click only if you can take things with a grain of salt.)

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Nobody really understands the motivations behind World War II.  The truth is there was a hideous zombie outbreak.  The governments of the world (and the churches) refused to let the people know what was really going on so they fabricated a war.  Some of the select few decided that something had to be done and their had to be a cover-up.  Based on the prior Great War, many lies were fabricated.  Yes, in some parts real Allied soldiers were in combat with real Axis soldiers but that's wasn't even half the fight.  Most of the fights occurred against soldiers and zombies.  These soldiers were convinced by their superiors that they were enemy combatants-- I mean, the supernatural doesn't exist.  Yes, some Jews were rounded up and there was persecution.  Those bodies in the mass graves, though, were mostly disposed of zombies.  The stories of bodies in the ovens, or the testing of gasses was for testing weapons on zombies or disposing of them.
In the end, somebody had to take the fall and be blamed for everything.  Hitler chose to be the skapegoat and be forever labeled as one of history's greatest monsters.

The point of what I just gave wasn't to insult the people who suffered horribly in history, but to take what we think of historical fact and turn it completely upside-down.  It's like how Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter enlightened us on how the Civil War was begun to fight vampires.

What if Stalin was actually behind everything, sending demons in to possess certain high-ranking officials and cause hysteria in the masses?  What if Hitler was seeking out occult objects because occasionally he was able to fight his possession and wanted a way to find freedom and end the atrocities his country was committing?

What if everything the NAZIs did was for a hidden reason.  The next spoiler is if you haven't finished Changes...

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Remember how they wanted to sacrifice somebody of Ebenezer's family line to kill him?  What if rounding up the Jews was something similar that started with an excuse to round up the family of a powerful practioner but wasn't exactly sure where to start?  What if the rest of the Final Solution just happened to be a side-effect of hunting this family?

What if Churchill wasn't human?  Why would he try to keep England free?  Maybe the Axis were being controlled by a malevolent force and if the UK were to fall, they would have free reign over Stonehenge?  (Stonehenge, of course, is one of the most powerful objects on the planet.  Your players don't have to know why-- it's a guarded secret.)

Also, wizards + WWII planes = comedy plane crashes

[Aminar]

I'm going to paraphrase Dan Wells on Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter.
It did cheapen the suffering.  If you want the most impactful secret histories they shouldn't be shifting the blame, but exemplifying it. 
So for instance, have your Zombies were the Holocaust, but show how the camps were used as infection stations to fuel the undead army that Kemmler created without the german superiors direct knowledge or understanding.  It keeps the horror of the Holocaust and at the same time throws that secret history in there, making it more awful in some ways.

(Of course this is more from a writing perspective, where if you wanted a story to get published this would be the...  most impactful option because it doesn't cheapen the suffering.

Either way though, sounds like a fun campaign.

[Ulfgeir]

That does sound like a really cool game. One thing you might want to do is take a look at the RPG "Operation: Fallen Reich" which the developers describe as Jeeves & Wooster meets the X-files set in the WWII.

/Ulfgeir

[Mr. Death]

One thing to use might be to bring in Monoc Industries. A big old war like that is bound to have some Valkyries around. They might even be helping with the Kemmler situation.

Also under consideration is how the other immortal factions dealt with it--Summer or Winter, the vampire courts, etc.

[Couchman]

I'm taking a bit of creative license with things and involving the White Council to a small degree. Essentially, they're getting involved because the Nazis have been showing signs of breaking the laws and other sorts of unsavory behavior (accusations of summoning demons, working with unsavory supernatural factions). They're not sending any Wardens into the field (yet), but they are providing the Allies with important information, and keeping tabs on the Allies' intelligence for disturbing signs.

I was planning on including Kemmler, since it's stated that he started animating mass graves in Dead Beat. But to the extent I want to include him, I'm not sure yet.

One of my players has decided he wants to be the Winter Knight for the era, which I think is kind of interesting. I'm trying to come up with a sound reason that Mab would want her knight involved in this, and also some interesting opposition from summer to throw in.

[Deadmanwalking]

Have you read Cold Days? Winter's motivations get some exploration there that might throw all of that into context.

Cold Days Spoiler:

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Considering Winter's job is fighting Outsiders...what if the Nazis, or more specifically the Thule society or some other occult body within the Nazis were summoning up Outsiders? That'd get both the council and the Winter Knight involved.

[fantazero]

my group did a ww2 game

we worked for SOE commanded by Alistor Crowley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive

i was Eli the (former) Warden of Poland who was Jewish and kicked out of White Council for kinda breaking the first Law. He was kidnapped by Evil Nazi Fredrick Von Kruger (Freddy Kruger! lol) and through torture was able to learn more about magic but did something to Eli that caused him to black out, when he woke up the deathc amp he was being held at was in ashes and it appeared the epicenter of the blast came from him. Also it appeared that Eli killed his Wife, Kids, and other prisoner in the magical blast.

We also had Joey who was transfered to our department by accident. Pure Mortal from the Streets of Brooklyn Joey was awesome, a Pure Mortal with Street Smarts and Fists

We had a Scottish guy with knives

The French School Girl who we ran into during out drop into her Families French Winery. She's also a White Court Vampire

Egyptian "God" stuck on the mortal coil

 And Half Fairy Archer Girl

and some James Bond type from the States

We broke into a German port that held an item of power and Eli's Kids who were being used in some sort of ritual oh and Kruger was there too.

The final showdown was neat, I spent all my energy and fate points taking out Krugers Shield, and Joey using a Bottle of the French Girls Family Wine, beat Kruger to death in one hit.

[Wyntonian]

That sounds pretty awesome! I've been toying with the idea of a campaign focused on the faiths of the "book",  high-powered (think Senior Council) Jewish, Christian and Muslim magical practitioners that form a joint ass-kicking force for things that threaten their faiths.

Related question, is it a violation of the first law if you sell a concentration camp full of Nazi guards to a supernatural faction?

[Aminar]

That sounds pretty awesome! I've been toying with the idea of a campaign focused on the faiths of the "book",  high-powered (think Senior Council) Jewish, Christian and Muslim magical practitioners that form a joint ass-kicking force for things that threaten their faiths.

Related question, is it a violation of the first law if you sell a concentration camp full of Nazi guards to a supernatural faction?

Not unless you used magic to do it.  Or summoned the entities maybe....

[Wyntonian]

Not unless you used magic to do it.  Or summoned the entities maybe....

What if it was just to open the conversation? "Oi! Winter Court! Want some Nazis?" You'd need to use magic to get their attention at some level, right? If the rest was just normal negotiations then magic wouldn't be what killed them, or even what kinda-not-really caused them to be killed.