Category: Night Witches

I’m reading Svetlana Alexievich’s astonishing oral history of Soviet women who fought in the Great Patriotic War and…

I’m reading Svetlana Alexievich’s astonishing oral history of Soviet women who fought in the Great Patriotic War and…

I’m reading Svetlana Alexievich’s astonishing oral history of Soviet women who fought in the Great Patriotic War and it is making me reconsider so many things about Night Witches. Here’s a sort of coda move for you:

The first time someone denies your lived experience after the war, roll minus medals.

On a 10+ you smile and nod your head and everything is fine.

On a 7-9 everything is fine, but choose one:

You minimize your accomplishments.

You play up the accomplishments of a male relative.

You change the subject to something other than the War.

On a miss you let them have it with the full force of a natural-born Soviet airwoman. Choose one and the GM chooses one:

You’ll never work in aviation again.

You’ll never have a position of authority again.

Your friends and family freeze you out.

Your neighbors view you with pity or suspicion or both.

Whatever the outcome, that’s how it is going to be for the next thirty years.

I’ve written up some character concepts taken from my interpretation of some of prompts from some of the Playbooks.

I’ve written up some character concepts taken from my interpretation of some of prompts from some of the Playbooks.

I’ve written up some character concepts taken from my interpretation of some of prompts from some of the Playbooks. Feel free to use them yourself or just read for the entertainment value. You can find them over at my Blog Stories and Other Such Distractions.

Hey everyone I have some questions about night moves.

Hey everyone I have some questions about night moves.

Hey everyone I have some questions about night moves. I had a test session last night and I want to make sure i’m tracking things right.

Here is how I understand it. When a plane is damaged by enemy fire/wayfind they can still attempt their attack run but when they get back to base they must also roll wheels down. Later on if they select plane damaged again during wheels down the plane is a fiery wreck.

So two questions…

1.) If a plane is damaged a second time outside of the wheels down move do they immediately go down? Likely leading to a behind enemy lines scenario?

2.) In the Enemy fire move, if the player selects ‘another plane in your section goes down’ is this different from being damaged? I’m reading it to mean that the plane skips being damaged and has to immediately try to land.

Longcon Preparation

Longcon Preparation

Longcon Preparation

Hey folks!

I have a convention next weekend, and we are preparing to run a 6-session longcon of Nightwitches, with a new GM for each duty station. In order to help this out, I was going to prepare a list of half-generated NPCs that each of the MCs could build on. Does anyone have some existing NPC lists that we could borrow to assemble ours? Just a few names, adjectives, and distinctions would be fantastic.

I will share what I have when my own list is prepared, along with any feedback we receive from the longcon. We are considering having each group read out the list of fallen nightwitches so far in the longcon, at the beginning of each session to make it feel more weighty.

Played our first session of a Night Witches campaign tonight.

Played our first session of a Night Witches campaign tonight.

Played our first session of a Night Witches campaign tonight. Our intrepid young ladies ( Lara, Hanna, Masha and Ira )managed to make it to Engels and through training. Making a name for themselves in some good and bad ways. They managed to make an enemy of Tatyana and her gang of lackeys by standing up to her bullying of the other girls. Impressed the captain with their initiative and pulled off their first bombing mission without a hitch. Now if they could just navigate the dangerous social waters as deftly as they do the night skies.

Now it’s off to the front, Galina and Alexandra in tow,To brave the Fascist dogs and strike back for the Motherland!

Handling widespread injury

Handling widespread injury

Handling widespread injury

What do you do when your airwomen are mostly out of commission? The book says play will naturally gravitate towards the base, but so many of the moves seem predicated on the 24-hour cycle that I’m wondering quite how it will work if there’s no mission coming up.

Do you continue to play the cycle but without the missions, or just cover a few highlights from each day until they’re healed up? What do you do if there’s one odd woman out who isn’t injured? Any tips for how to make sessions sing during this period?