Category: Night Witches

1. Wayfind

There seems to be a contradiction between what is stated about Wayfind Moves on p41 and what is stated about Wayfind Moves on p95.

On p41 it reads that if the lead navigator misses her Wayfind roll, she can “scrub the mission” or “make your [her] own Attack Run”. Other planes relying on the lead navigator’s Wayfind roll can choose which of these two miss conditions they prefer. Thus, the other planes (the ones without the lead navigator) have only two choices if the lead navigator’s Wayfind roll is a miss result: either return to base or make their own Attack Run. Thus, ONLY the lead navigator ever makes a Wayfind Move.

This is contradicted by the information on p95 which states that if the lead navigator fails the Wayfind Move then “another PC in a rear seat in the Section can try to find the target” and “If everyone fails to Wayfind, the Section can’t find the target”. The notion that the section gets a second or third chance to make a Wayfind Move undermines the pressure on the lead navigator and also simply contradicts the point that a miss on the Wayfind presents the other planes with only two options: “scrub the mission” or make their “own Attack Run”. The additional statement on p95 that “Multiple navigators can Wayfind individually if they like” similarly seems to contradict the way a mission is planned and executed as outlined on pp40 and 97.

Escalating from a failed Wayfind to multiple Attack Runs also seems consistent with the rule on p41 whereby if the lead pilot gets a miss on her Attack Run roll, the other pilots must choose to “abort the attack” or “press on, Tempting Fate”. The statement on p95 (p107 of the PDF) that “Another PC in a front seat in the section can try to attack the target” makes more sense here although properly speaking the attack is done as a Tempt Fate Move rather than an Attack Run Move to “attack the target” in this situation. 

So to clarify (in my opinion):

a. If the lead navigator gets a miss result on her initial Wayfind Move then all planes must proceed to make individual Attack Run Moves or return to base. No other Wayfind Moves are made. In this situation the lead pilot no longer gets to lead the attack.

b. If the lead pilot gets a miss result when leading the Attack Run, she may still try to attack but now makes a Tempt Fate Move. Other planes may make an Attack Run Move but do not get the +1 forward because the lead pilot did not succeed on the initial Attack Run Move.

c. Any pilot who makes an Attack Run Move and gets a miss result can choose to proceed with an attack but does so by making a Tempt Fate Move.

2. Character Moves

a. Sparrow – Ghosts (p44): Can this Move be used more than once? Logically, a Sparrow could use this move once for every “dead comrade” she has but the term “comrade” is not defined. I would rule that these comrades have to be PCs but a player might argue that any deceased Soviet military person they have some connection to is a “dead comrade”. Also, where it reads “Every time you do this you are also Harmed or Marked” what does doing “this” actually refer to – choosing the dead comrade (that is, making this Move) or spending the hold? The latter seems to be a more appropriate cost for the benefit of an automatic 10+ success. There seems to be some potential for abuse in this Move – a PC could make the Move every time she hears a comrade has died and build up a large number of holds which are then spent for 1-Harm (a reasonable cost if no more than 1 hold is spent per day).

b. Hawk – People’s Hero (p45): Can this Move be used more than once? A PC could end up with a whole cadre of high-ranking officials who have a personal interest in her career.

c. Owl – Greater Good (p45): Can this move be used more than once? Can it be used to rewrite “Embrace Death and face your final destiny”?

d. Pigeon – Shit Talking (p46): Rolling “+regard” does not seem to make any sense in this context. The Regard bonus is “always +1” (p21) and that bonus would apply in this Move automatically if you had Regard for “another player character you despise” and ONLY if you have Regard for “another player character you despise”.  

e. Raven – Fortune’s Fool (p46): When the PC first gains this Move, does she have to nominate one single other Move which Fortune’s Fool ONLY ever applies to thereafter?

f. On p95 it states that when you make a Wayfind Move or an Attack Run Move you can improve the odds by asking “your Vedomaya for help”. This does not seem to make any sense. A Vedomaya’s role is to absorb/suffer some of the consequences that arise from other PCs’ Moves. A Vedomaya cannot add to the Wayfind or Attack Run roll and so in that sense cannot “improve the odds” at all.

These observations and questions have come out of a process of thinking about this game with increasing affection and a desire to explore it further.