We played through the first session of Night Witches last night. We went through the “structured intro” document and did the first two missions. The first went badly, the second was a disaster, with a plane of NPCs crashing into the riverbank when a PCs’ plane flew into it. The NPCs died. (We had three PCs, as two other players volunteered to run additional games in the now-very-busy club.)
Everyone really enjoyed it, and the look of shock and loss when I narrated the loss of the section’s third plane was palpable. Everyone’s keen for next time!
Three follow-up questions.
1. The Mission Pool is going to be vital. How many opportunities should I, as GM, be offering them to build it up before a mission? I think a pool of 3-4 is about right, but things will vary depending on the fiction.
2. It looks like one, perhaps two, of the PCs will fail to get their combat wings. What’s the consequence of that? An earlier post here suggested that she be embarrassed and under the tutelage of an experienced flyer until she can make the successful rolls. Would that put her in a different Section?
3. All three PCs are Sergeants. I think one of them should be the section leader anyway, as having the GM make personnel decisions isn’t fun. But how does that fit with the “tutelage” part of question 2?
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I’d let them worry about the mission pool. Remind them about how it works, but push the drama. And the NKVD.
Jesse Coombs I agree, it’s up to the players which opportunities they use to build the mission pool. But how many opportunities do I give them before I put down the MC hammer and say, “It’s dusk. Briefing now.” (Or, softer, “You’ll be tired tonight, 1 Harm.”)
Neil Smith I’d probably give them one go each before I start thinking about running out of time and pushing the whole time cycle/you need to get some sleep thing. Even then I’d probably use it as a consequence of a failure or 7-9. If they keep trying to come up with moves after that, I’d just straight up give them harm for fatigue, and after that just say “time’s up.”
Follow the fiction, mostly.
I’m not sure what you mean by combat wings, but in terms of mission pool, just remind them as they go through the day that unless they rest, they’ll go into the mission with 1-Harm. They probably also need to manage damaged planes and other troubles on the ground that will make flying more problematic.
Yeah, just present them with interesting NPCs, shortages, and sexism and let them find their own way through the day. It always amazes me how often the PCs will come off a disastrous mission and then proceed to do everything BUT add to the mission pool. Their funeral. How sad, steel your hearts, now, who wants to be the Owl?
Steve Segedy by “combat wings” I mean “succeeded in both Wayfind and Attack Run.”
The “mission pool” question is really about how many scenes I should be calling before each mission. One or two scenes makes for a fast but brutal game; a dozen scenes would give a slower pace and easier missions. What do people find as a good balance?
I usually give each PC at least one opportunity to do something interesting in a day, so roughly four scenes in a four player game, switching the spotlight back and forth between them. Usually those scenes are a reaction to some other pressure- broken planes, inspections, a need to heal harm, etc.
It really depends on how many players you have. With 3 players I usually give about 2 chances to do something during the day, poor rolls eat into that usually taking it into stress/harm before flying. Sometimes the thing they attempt takes no time at all so my suggestion would be to listen to the fiction and then say…