Bring on the Nazis!

Nazis.  Perhaps the best known villains in popular literature, possibly the worst villains in history.  We have seen them taken down by the likes of Indiana Jones and Hellboy, have watched numerous documentaries on their evil deeds.  One could argue that in the worlds of fiction perhaps Nazis have been a little over used (Certainly in the real world they have; The History Channel’s old nick name was The Hitlery Channel, and it seems every other hour of Military Channel programming is dedicated either to Nazism or World War II.).  Star Trek, for example, visited the Nazi well a few times with TOS’ Patterns of Force, Voyager’s The Killing Game and Enterprise’s laughable two parter Storm Front, where the term “Space Nazi” originated.  Nazis could be called trite and clichéd.

And yet, people, both GMs and authors alike, still keep coming back to them.  Why?  I will tell you…

Damn.  Even their waiters looked good...

Appearance: Nazis look awesome.  If you examine all the uniforms worn during WW II the Germans stand out as looking utterly bad ass in their field gray and black (or desert tan, depending on the theatre of war), with red trim, peaked caps and riding boots.  If the war had been fought by the standards of fashion the Allies would have surrendered long before D-Day.  And this look has translated over into other popular culture.  Look at the Empire uniforms in Star Wars and you can get a Nazi vibe off of them.

And this look captures the players’ collective imagination.  They see in their minds’ eyes tall, broad shouldered blue-eyed and blond-haired Aryans in black, silver and red, armed with the signature and stylish Luger pistol, bombing them with V2 rockets and strafing them with shark-like ME262 jet fighter aircraft, or rolling over them with Tiger tanks, blasting them into oblivion.  Heck, even their weapons sound cool.  The panzerfaust (tank fist) was a rocket propelled grenade designed to destroy tanks.  Say it with me: panzerfaust.  The second part of that name conjures up something demonic, hearkening back to the story of Faust, who sold his soul to the devil.  Panzerfaust.  If you want to create a cool bad guy, there is a name ready-made for you.  Can the PC’s stop Baron von Sturmwolfen and his Panzerfaust Commando?  With names like that?  I don’t think so.

Ideology: Nazis have a clear cut motivation, be it extermination of the Jews or resurrecting Hitler or even just the fact that they believe they are better than you, that you are the mongrel offspring of inferior races (Being German and Scots Irish, I would fall into this category).  You can understand their motivations, they are clear cut.  Nazis are Bad Guys and except for a fraction of the population (and that fraction are all assholes, so who cares what they think) we would like to see every single Nazi burn in hell.  For this reason a GM or screenwriter can appreciate why Nazis are so much fun to kill.

And another aspect of the ideology is it is generally well known to most people with at least a basic education, so the GM does not have to fill in much back story when Nazis are employed.  Nazis are like a microwave meal of delicious villainy, they are ready to serve within minutes.

"Roddenberry does know we're Jewish, right?"

Adaptability: Nazis can be used in anything from a time travel story where the heroes journey into the past to take on Hitler’s SS, to the present where a Neo Nazi movement seeks to recapture past glories.  Or Nazis are found sleeping in suspended animation, or a secret enclave of Nazis is found on the moon as seen in the Iron Skies game and referenced in an old David Drake novel.  Or the future where some regime has decided to adopt Nazi ideals to achieve their aims (in TOS’ Patterns of Force it is pointed out that, crude and vicious ideology aside, Nazism did turn the country’s economy around.  A future leader could adopt the trappings of Nazism), or from another dimension where the Germans won WWII (i.e. Robert Harris’ Fatherland).  You could even have your Space Nazis, creatures who have discovered old radio and television transmissions and think this Hitler guy is pretty swell and are inspired by him.  Perhaps they even come to Earth to help him out. 

Nazis are also adaptable when it comes to tone.  Under normal circumstances Nazis are the purest Evil and should be portrayed that way, but there can be exceptions.  The most notable one that comes to mind is the movie The Blues Brothers.  Illinois Nazis swore vengeance on Jake and Elwood Blues after being humiliated by the pair, they chased them down during the climactic final act.  Modern Nazis were portrayed as being weak, ineffectual and foolish men…which seemed to me a pretty spot on interpretation by director John Landis.

Another option you might want to explore is that of Romans.  Romans share some Nazi traits; they were expansionist, employed (for the time) high technology, and were stylin’ in their sharp uniforms at a time when many of their enemies wore whatever the hell they wanted.  In an episode of The Tomorrow People time was altered and the Roman Empire conquered Earth.  Space Romans might be an interesting adversary to tackle.

Now you may ask “Tom, have you ever used Nazis in your games?” to which I must admit that no, I have not.  However, I had planned to in my Cosmic game, where I was going to introduce a colony of Nazi Germans living on another planet.  In a scene on a space station one of the PCs had spotted a human with crew cut blonde hair and this was eventually going to lead to a Space Nazi adventure.  However the game folded long before I got that far.

So next time you are stumped for a villain to use, you might want to consider breaking out the Nazis.

So next time you are having trouble coming up with a villain to toss at your heroes, consider The Nazis.

Wonder Woman's new costume

I think it looks all right.  I think the only thing I would change would be the boots.  The boots need to be red.  Other than that I feel that the creators have paid suitable homage to the classic costume, and made something a bit more functional than the swimsuit WW has been wearing in comics for years.

Of course, whether the costume is good or not what will make or break the series is the writing.  I have heard rumors Diana will be some sort of executive by day, super hero by night (which is what DC's Power Girl is doing).

I think Written World, possibly the 'net's biggest Wonder Woman fan, has summed up things pretty well.

"Last" never lasts

( With special thanks to Dave Zyn for the idea for this article.)

“Last” never lasts

A plot element in the background of many characters in fiction is that of being the last of something. It is seen in movies and in literature (i.e. Luke Skywalker being the last Jedi once Yoda passed on, Superman) as well.  And while it is a great source for drama and pathos the status of being last at whatever the character is last of never really lasts.

Superman.  Last Son of Krypton.  Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn't it?  Then Krypto, the super dog showed up.  Then there was Supergirl, Superman’s cousin.  Then there was the bottled city of Kandor and its diminutive inhabitants.  This is not even addressing the Phantom Zone villains that broke out every once in a while.  It got so Superman was far from unique and there were more than enough Kryptonians flying around that the entire race could be repopulated.  John Byrne showed up back in ’86 and rebooted Superman, making him the Last Son again, but over time we saw that got tossed out the window (Especially the past couple years when New Krypton was parked in an orbit around the sun opposite Earth).

Back to Luke Skywalker.  In the movies we saw how he wound up being the last Jedi, but over time in the novels the Jedi academy was formed and more Jedi appeared.  Luke was no longer special.

Y, The Last Man?  Not if you read the final issues.  Okay, to be fair Brian K. Vaughn seemed to have the story scripted well in advance, so he gets a pass. :)

Lobo!  You might say.  The Main Man is the last Czarnian.  Well, at the moment he is.  But years back DC Comics printed a mini series where Lobo had to transport a criminal that turned out to be his old school teacher, so “The Last Czarninan” was not the last.  And sometimes when Lobo bleeds he is cloned so he really does not count.

But wait!  You might say. What about The Last Airbender?  Aang truly was the last of the airbenders.  But you fail to take into account the Last Airbender card game where one of the cards is the air witch.  And now there is going to be a sequel series so I am certain the writers are looking for ways to re-introduce the Airbenders somehow.  I will be curious to see if they can resist the temptation.

What makes these examples sad in some cases is being the last of something really does make a character unique, and when they are no longer last their potency is diluted.  There are so many active Superman-like characters (Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Power Girl, and those are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head) that Superman is just a little less super.  Something that was awesome in small doses becomes almost trite when thrown at us in overwhelming amounts.  I remember how awesomely bad ass Luke Skywalker was because he had a unique weapon only one other guy in the universe used, so when the light saber was broken out you knew things were going to be awesome.  In the first battle Obi Wan dies, the second time Luke loses a hand, the third Luke lights up with a new ‘saber and shows Jabba’s minions why Jedis are to be feared.  In the fourth Vader loses a hand and the Emperor gets tossed down a pit (and I know the light saber is used in other scenes in the three original movies, but these four to me are the most important, most dramatic).  When the light saber is broken out you knew Something Big was going down.  After Episoes I-III and Clone Wars?  Not so much.  I realize those are prequels but it applies to the argument in that something that was once awesome because it was so special is now, well, not so much.

EDIT: Doctor Who is another example (Thanks Dave). When The Doctor was reintroduced he was The Last Time Lord.  After the Time War all the others had been killed off and so The Doctor was alone, unique.  But of course that could not last.  By the end of season three The Doctor's nemesis The Master was revealed to have survived.  But it did not end there.  In the fourth Doctor Who television we got to see Timothy Dalton lead a host of insane Timelords as Earth and Gallifrey went on a collision course.  Now the latest rumors have The Rani and The Meddling Monk returning.  Last Time Lord?  Riiiiiiight.

Last becoming not-so-last often happens (but is not necessarily limited to) to long running franchises, where writers inherit already established universes and are given the unenviable task of delivering something new.  Another urge writers face is to place their own stamp on a character/franchise, to make their name as memorable as the character(s) they write.  Sometimes it works; John Byrne's reboot of Superman is a memorable occurence and even twenty years later his influence can be seen in Smallville where Lex Luthor was transformed by Byrne from a typical pulp fiction mad scientist into an evil corporate mastermind.  And more recently there is Grant Morrison's All Star Superman, which was recently adapted into an animated movie.  By the same token such attempts by writers can be infamous, such as Frank Miller's recent All Star Batman comic, which was considered by many to be a pathetic joke.

How does all of this apply to your game, you might ask?  As a GM you should take a look at a PC’s origin and if (s)he is the last fill-in-the-blank consider whether or not that is appropriate.  Being unique is all right, but if it seems that it might cause you headaches you might want to disallow that aspect of the character’s origin.  Then you should consider whether or not (s)he truly is the last fill-in-the-blank.  If so, fine.  But perhaps you want to have a storyline where the PC meets another of their race/order/whatever.  How would your PC react?  Would (s)he be cool with that, or did (s)he really want their character to be the last fill-in-the-blank?  In these cases, even if it does spoil the surprise, it is prudent to discuss with the PC your potential plans.  Perhaps right from the start you make it clear to the PC that you as the GM reserve the right to introduce others of the character’s kind down the road, make certain there is a clear understanding between the two of you.  Remember: open communication is key to a...lasting gaming relationship...

Evil (and not so) Minions

Sometimes a villain cannot do it all himself, or perhaps he simply does not wish to get his hands dirty.  Whatever the reason, the bad guy may decide to employ minions.  Perhaps he needs the heroes distracted to cover his escape or to keep them busy while his Master Plan is executed, or perhaps he needs them softened up so he can deliver his master blow.  Whatever the reason, the hero may find him or herself up against a host of foot soldiers who can either prove to be a hinderance at least, a lethal collective opponent at worst.  Below are some examples of minions as well as their respective pros and cons:

Zombies.  The undead, zombies can have either a supernatural or super science origin depending on the super villain.  Perhaps a necromancer has raised the restless undead from their graves, or a mad scientist has discovered a manner in which to reanimate dead flesh. In either case the heroes have a pretty disgusting fight on their hands.
The neat aspect about zombies is their potential horror or comedic value, depending on the tone of the game and your players (I have known players who can make anything funny.  As long as the player is not completely derailing your game you should just try and enjoy the experience).  When presenting the zombies you should play up the atmosphere.  If supernatural in origin you should go into detail regarding the horrific prospect of rotting, stinking, maggot-infested flesh, or perhaps the reanimated are people the characters might recognize.  There should be a real feeling of dread and disgust when confronted with the undead.

The problem with zombies is, they are often slow.  In recent years fast zombies have been portrayed in various films (and in a steampunk novel I read called Boneshaker) that they can be pretty quick on their feet, and they are fine so it is up to you as to what kind you want, so this might not be a disadvantage.  The only other drawback I see with the undead as your foot soldiers is they lack brains and so they can be often out-witted.

Robots.  Robots are a staple of science fiction and comics.  We have seen them in Star Trek and Star Wars, seen Spider-Man, Batman and Superman fight them.  Heck, even The Shadow fought them in the pulp comics!  Robots are like literary comfort food, they are the Doritos of minions.

And that is the big problem with robots.  They are boring.  Fighting robots can be a very dull experience because in the end they are mindless, soulless creations who when destroyed offer no consequences for the players to worry about.  It is why the climactic fight in Iron Man II was so inferior to the one from the first Iron Man film, why the second season of Legion of Super Heroes was so inferior to the first season, why the three part season finale of Avengers which was recently aired was hit or miss.  And especially one of the reasons why the second Star Wars trilogy sucked.  Robots can be sleep inducing.

That is not to say robots do not have their place.  Robots used sparingly can be all right, especially if they are interesting.  In a Dungeons & Dragons or Wild West campaign, for example, fighting steampunk clockwork minions would be an interesting change of pace.  I just feel it is vitally important that GMs do not rely overly much on robots as plot devices.

Ninjas.  No.  Just, no.  No ninjas, ever.  Ninjas are played out, they are a joke.  Introducing ninjas will likely cause unintentional laughter rather than drama.  Ninjas have been old since the American Ninja movies, since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was first published, since their second film where Vanilla Ice rapped "Go Ninja, go Ninja go!".  Do not use ninjas unless you have some sort of elaborate ninja vs. pirate storyline in mind or wish to do an all-comedy campaign, because really ninjas are not at all interesting or threatening (however, a single ninja as a PC or bad guy is awesome, because it is a known fact hordes of ninja minions are wimps, a lone ninja is living death).

Do you know who modern ninja are?  Green Berets.  Navy SEAL teams.  Russian Spetsnaz, British SAS, pretty much any military unit whose members are given training far beyond the norm and are pushed well beyond the limits normal soldiers can endure, are outfitted with special weapons and gear and are given special high risk assignments.  That to me is what ninjas were, special forces units with extraordinary training and equipment, given tasks conventional forces were unable to perform.  If you have a ninja idea in mind you might want to go the route of using modern special forces soldiers instead, perhaps a made up unit.  Just don't call them "Ninja Force" or the like.  In fact, if you go this route giving the special forces team in question code names like GI Joe characters might be a neat idea.  There is nothing wrong with giving minions a little depth and flavor.

Gangsters. I use the term "gangsters" to cover groups of criminals in general, so it could mean a gang of medeival raiders, or outlaw cowboys, or prohobition era bootleggers or urban gang bangers.  Gangsters are normal crooks normally armed with mundane weaponry and who are usually more of a threat to normal people rather than heroes, although a large number could given urban adventurers a run for their money.  Gangsters might be the principle bad guys in your game depending on your setting, or in a super hero game where the PCs possess powers, abilities or equipment that place them far above normal humans they might prove to be a refreshing change of pace.  Perhaps the gangsters acquire hi-tech weaponry provided to them by a mysterious benefactor?  Or they are infected with the curse of lycanthropy and have now become a rabid pack of werewolves?  Or perhaps the press is implying super heroes do not address real problems and the team must address more real world problems by trying to shut down urban violence?

Gangsters have the benefit of being potentially real people with potentially real problems.  Why do people become gangsters?  Greed?  A need to support a drug habit?  A need to support a family?  What are the underlying reasons for them being gangsters in the first place?  Perhaps that roving band of raiders are in reality displaced soldiers who have turned to minionhood for the big bad because their own kingdom has been overrun by another big bad?  The important thing here is that gangsters are people and as such hold in them the potential for plot hooks.

Soldiers.Set apart from gangsters, soldiers are individuals specially trained in the art of warfare. They have experience in employing the weapons of their era and acting as part of a unit.  Soldiers can be Knights Templar or German storm troopers (I will be addressing the use of Nazis in a later post), or Star Wars storm troopers for that matter.  Soldiers may be the most common enemy of your game, or if you are running (again) a super hero campaign you could use them as a change of pace.

Soldiers can offer a possible political aspect to your game.  What if your super heroes have to enter a foreign nation and are confronted with armed soldiers?  If they fight them they could cause an international incident.  Like gangsters soldiers are people, too, and even if they serve a corrupt regime (i.e. Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard) slaughtering them wholesale may not be the most moral thing to do.

Natives.  I used the term "Natives" to denote an ethnic group originating from a particular region that is highly identifiable.  These can be African Tribesmen, Native Americans or blue-faced Celts.  Their use can be mundane, as in a Wild West campaigns cowboys fighting indians could and would probably be a common event, or a dig in Africa might provoke local tribesmen (remember Raiders of The Lost Ark?  Belloq used the Hovitos against Indiana Jones).  You could even have a time traveling villain draw peoples from other times as cannon fodder against the heroes.

Natives provide the same moral quandaries some other minions provide, and that is how moral is it to attack peoples who have a legitimate beef against the heroes?  Or is killing them the proper thing to do if it creates more problems than it solves?  I would say the only drawback to the use of natives is the potential racial factor.  Be very careful not to fall into racial stereotypes, as it may offend some players.

The Inhuman.  This is a catch-all category for minions that do not adequately fit into the others.  These can be kobolds or orcs, or fish men from the Cthulu mythos. In my current campaign I have transformed much of a town's populace into ape-like creatures.  The pros and cons of inhuman minions are covered above; supernatural threats can be great at inducing horror, using beings who were once human but are now otherwise transformed or possessed can present the team with serious moral quandries that require more creative solutions.  Even attacking a den of kobolds could have serious moral implications if their mates and children are present...

Well, okay, honestly if kobolds were not meant to be slaughtered in a genocidal frenzy they should not have been born neutral evil.

In closing,  when using minions think about what you as the GM wish to accomplish in terms of plot and tone.  Your minions can be mere cannon fodder or a plot element in themselves, can be employed to generate humor or horror.

Dwayne McDuffie, RIP

I echo Mighty God King's statement: God damn it!  For those of you who do not know, Dwayne was a comic book writer born in Detroit, who expanded into animation, working on the Justice League Unlimited series and who was writer on some of DC's recent direct-to-DVD animated movies.  His last work was an adaptation of Alan Moore's All Star Superman.  No one knows at this time what he died of.

I am very upset at this.  McDuffie was a very talented writer and by all accounts a great guy.  For more details visit Comic Book Resources.

Some advice for the players

 I thought I would do something a little different today and...

Oh, happy Valentine's Day, by the way.

So, some years back I was in a Dungeons & Dragons (2nd edition) game run by my brother, Donald.

Donald.  The enemy.

It was a Ravenloft game and he had done a pretty good job setting the mood, the tone.  We were in a campaign to battle this lich and we were pretty low level so the idea was to thwart the thing's plans at first rather than confront him directly.  One night I had to work late and I was going to be a few hours late, so I gave permission for my character to be used by someone else.  I arrived at the game...

And none of the other players would look me in the eye.  And Donald was grinning.

When the GM is grinning like that, you know you are in trouble.

It seems that the after the short bridging sewer adventure the lich had mobilized his army and was coming to town.  Coming out of the sewers, the gang was informed of this.  What did they do?  Did they grab their gear and horses and tear out of there?

No, it was time for a bath.

Later, another herald came to town to announce the lich would be at town any day now.  Did the gang light out of there?

No, it was time for a good, hearty breakfast.

Finally the lich's army had arrived.  Hordes of vampire soldiers, ghouls on leashes, unholy thing swooping through the air.  Certainly it was high time to get the hell out of there!

Nope.  The gang watched the parade along with the rest of the town.

Eventually someone got it into their heads that they should check out the mayor's mansion, where the Lich was hanging out.  Ultimately they were captured, disarmed and thrown into a dungeon.

And that was when I showed up for the game.

So, what can players learns from this?

Recognize when you are in over your head.  GMs do not always throw fair fights your way.  Remember The Empire Strikes Back?  The bad guys had all the muscle on their side and running away with most of the rebellion intact was considered a victory.  Players must assess the threat and determine whether or not they should stand their ground or flee.

Listen to the GM's warnings.  Fair GMs give players hints that things are going to get bad, they provide opportunities for players to make spot checks, listen rolls.  They use NPCs to drop hints and clues (i.e. a terrified out of his mind villager who informs the player the soul-sucking lich king is coming to town).  Heed these clues!  If the GM has repeatedly given you the hint you are in a world of hurt and you fail to heed him then you deserve to have your character killed.

There was another incident a couple years later unrelated to the above.  Donald was running another game and I wanted to play a swashbuckler, as I am such a huge fan of the seventies Musketeer films (the ones starring Michael York, Charleton Heston, and Christopher Lee).  I was running a half elf, and during the game Donald did not miss an opportunity to make fun of my character class or the fact that my character looked, to his mind, effiminite. It proved to be pretty frustrating as the jokes got old relatively quickly.  The final straw hit when I discovered two other players-Cal and James-were running half elves as well and I did not know this.  Why hadn't Donald picked on them?  Because their half elves looked indistinguishable from humans.  So fed up, I quit.

Were my actions immature?  Perhaps.  But I think the incident brought up some important issues in regards to player and GM conduct:

Players stick together.  If the GM is being unfair and picking on a particular player, then it is up to the rest of the players to stand up for him.  Even if you do not like that player, if he is being wronged then you must stand behind them.  Players should not be so terrified of the GM that they keep their silence.  It is only a game, the GM is a mere mortal.

So if you think a fellow player is being treated unfairly by the GM or another player, do not hesitate to speak out.  By the same token, try and keep your ears open for those subtle (and not so subtle) clues your GM is dropping, either.

Wow, this snuck up on me...

It is already the one year anniversary for this blog.  Special thanks to my followers for, uh, following. :)  As always, I hope this blog has helped and entertained.