Re: [WW] Assumptions (a bit OT but it does mention BARs)

[Sean Michael Whipkey <highway@cstone.net>]

Michael Robert Blair wrote:
> 2. A new CoC player had a BAR. After the campaign we
> nosing about my bookshelves and I pulled one off the
> shelf and showed him a picture of a BAR. He was
> astonished at how big they were, and by the weight
> -"that weighs more than my bicylcle" was his refrain.
> I gaped, surely everyone knows what a BAR is? He must
> have thought it was an SMG.

I love gaming books that provide full non-combat statistics and pictures
of weapons.  It helps a lot to know the weight, the size, what it looks
like, etc.  For real life weapons I tend to make assumptions that my
players know what they look like, though several times I've made sure to
stop them and see if they know what they're talking about.

I've found that during character creation, simply mentioning some
pertinent facts about the weapons they're choosing helps a lot,
particularly with players who are trying to branch out but still want
maximum bang for their buck.

"Okay, with these rules, for my hold out weapon, I want a Desert Eagle
.50."
"Do you know what one looks like?"
"No."

So I pop in Desperado and show him one.  I also tend to point out which
weapon is which in movies so people can remember.  "Oh yeah!  The
Berretta 93R is that weird looking gun John Travolta had at the end of
Face/Off!"

> The Italians were dragged into the whole thing by el
> Duche and just wanted to go home. Hence the comment by
> one German general being interrorgated after the war,
> "It's your turn to have them next time" (Italy had
> been on the allied side during the Great War, well
> against Austria-Hungary is maybe a more accurate
> description).

[Side note: The Ottawa Red Shirts are a group of guys from Ottawa (duh)
that come to Origins and GenCon every year to run demos and sell some of
their own games through the RAFM booth.  You'll find that they run games
such as Silent Death, General Glen's WWII Combat System for Toy
Soldiers, and Charlie Company.  They do a great job, are great guys,
even if they have a pro-Canada bias and insist their beer is good (which
it isn't).  Check them out next year.]

Last year at Origins one of the Red Shirts was running a game of General
Glen's.  They were discussing the North Africa campaign and I heard a
great anecdote about the Italians.  This is all at least third hand, so
it's my fault if something is wrong - I've found the Red Shirts to be
darn good about the accuracy of their historical stories.

Anyways, there were a group of British escaping an Axis advance in North
Africa.  They had a large group of trucks, tanks, etc., and were moving
by night.  As they approached a road, though, they found it covered as
far as they could see by Nazi and Italian trucks hauling supplies.

They couldn't stay where they were because they'd be found out.  One
British soldier walked to the road, stepped out into it, and put his
hands up to stop traffic like a road guard.  Traffic stopped, and the
British column crossed the road.

I will be more than happy to admit that it takes a darn big pair to do
something like that.  Some people wondered why the Axis convoy stopped,
and the Red Shirt's opinion was that he got lucky and found one of the
Italian truck drivers.  The Italian knew if he raised the alarm, he'd be
the first to die, and most of the Italians didn't care that much for the
Axis cause, so he sat back, probably smoked a cigarette, and feigned
ignorance.

If I ever get a chance to run Weird Wars (grin) I'm definitely going to
try that on my players, to see if they can keep their cool. 
Unfortunately, they play too much Feng Shui, so it'll probably be
bloody.

SeanMike