Okay, some "Meta-game" knowledge for the world I'm envisioning. Your characters will know SOME of this background....
Our real world history and this history of this "take" on our world is basically the same thru 1938. In that year, the first 'Talents' began to emerge. The first well known Talent was Konrad Rahn of Germany who became a massive celebrity called 'Der Fleiger', which translates as 'The Flyer' or ‘The Airman’. Rahn was a Luftwaffe pilot serving in the 'Condor Legion'; a group of German military squadrons and army units fighting for Franco's Fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). His plane was struck by Anti-Aircraft fire during the Battle of the Ebro in the late summer of 1938 and he bailed out only to find that his parachute failed to deploy. While plummeting, he suddenly stopped falling and began FLYING, with short-lived 'contrails' left in his wake. Hundreds of soldiers on both sides witnessed it, and he was soon sent back to Germany and made numerous demonstrations and rapidly was transferred to the SS and began a Propaganda piece for the Nazi regime as the first living example of their 'Ubermenschen' (Super-men) philosophy.
Other Talents also had emerged, some perhaps earlier than Rahn, but none that has his high visibility. These included Sampson Selassie in Ethiopia who used his Energy Blasts to fight the Italian fascists that had occupied his country before he was killed by some of Mussolini's Black Shirts and a Buddhist Monk named Lao Chieng who manifested beyond human levels of Agility and Leaping ability and who used these Talents to fight various Warlord factions AND the Japanese in parts of China around the same time as Rahn; but who never sought out any publicity.
Nonetheless, by the time WW2 had broken out in Europe in September of 1939, dozens of Talents had manifested all around the World, always in situations of great stress; such as that brought on by warfare. By the time the War had ended in 1945, approximately 7,000 Talents all around the world had manifested and about half of them would perish in the War. The numbers seemed fairly evenly distributed between the Allied Powers, the Axis Powers and neutral countries unwittingly brought into the War (places like Spain, Finland, Sweden, Nepal, Mongolia, etc.). All of the major powers would create agencies designed to identify, register, train and utilize these Talents as part of the War Effort. In Germany, this was done by the SS; in Japan, it was handled by the secretive organization known only as "Unit 781"; in Russia, it was part of the "Ministry of Special Soldiers'; for the British Commonwealth and allied Nations and Americans, it was the SSO; the "Special Services Office".
All of these Agencies would discover that despite all efforts of finding a 'cause' for the manifestation of Talents via blood tests, autopsies of Talents who fell in battle or even breeding programs (Nazis.....anybody surprised?); there was never ANY genetic indicators or common experiences (other than having been in highly stressful situations) or anything of any kind to lead anyone to have any idea how and why Talents manifested themselves in the people they did. All they learned was that these Talents tended to spontaneously appear in random individuals who were in stressful, frequently very dangerous situations and that things like gender, nationality, ethnicity, etc. mattered not a bit for who got a Talent (or Talents) and who didn't. Though, it WAS interesting to note that with VERY FEW exceptions, most Talents were between the ages of 20-50.
Talents would manifest between 1 and 3 separate abilities of differing 'levels' of power and in all cases, the individual could not ALWAYS activate such abilities, though they all became more and more capable of utilizing their abilities the more often they used them. None of the abilities could be 'held on' for very long....generally it was a matter of seconds to a few minutes in times of great stress like combat; to perhaps a couple of hours in a low stress situation. Also, any Talent could 'sense' another Talent when that individual had 'activated' a Power if it was done within a hundred yards or so. Each Talent would describe it differently; such as 'hearing' or 'smelling' a particular Talent utilizing their powers, but they could all sense it if within range. As soon as the Power was 'turned off', however, that sense went away.
Also, Talents who knew each other were Talents and who were 'activating' powers or had a Power "on"; if they locked gazes, could essentially 'force a power(s) off' if they 'psychically defeated' their opponent. Again, scientists could never figure out any way to explain this in 'rational terms'; but it happened enough with enough witnesses for people to understand it was a real phenomenon.
Finally, Talents tended to have powers that fell into one of 3 'power levels'; classified as Minor, Moderate and Major. Each Talent would have either 3 Minor Powers, 1 Moderate and 1 Minor Power or 1 Major Power. Minor Powers were easier to 'activate' and use for longer periods of time while Major Powers were the hardest to activate and shortest in terms of duration before the Talent could no longer maintain the ability; with Moderate powers in between the two levels. In addition Moderate and Major Powers had associated 'quirks' that accompanied their usage....such as a 'bright glow' when the Power was used or perhaps, "a hand had to have the index finger pointing at the intended target for the Blast power to be used by the Talent', etc.
WW2 Supers d6: BACKGROUND INFO
WW2 Supers d6: BACKGROUND INFO
Last edited by max_vale on Wed Mar 11, 2020 1:19 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: WW2 Supers d6: BACKGROUND INFO
Quick Timeline of WW2 events....
-1939:
On September 1st Germany invades Poland and 2 days later, France and the UK declare war on Germany in response. At this time the Axis powers consist of Germany, Italy and Japan while France and the UK are Allied with the U.S. and U.S.S.R officially neutral at this time. Italy has conquered and continues to oppress various native peoples in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia while Japan has been in the middle of a shooting war with both of the main factions in China since 1937; the recognized Government of Chiang Kai-shek (the Nationalists) and the Communist forces of Mao Zedong....these factions sometimes allied to fight the Japanese and sometimes fought each other.
Poland is rapidly conquered by Germany and a secret treaty with the USSR leaves part of Poland to be grabbed by the Russians, though most of the world is unaware of this alliance.
Japan and the Russians fight a brief border war in NE Asia (near Mongolia); though basically, the pre combat borders basically remain the same.
Most of the fighting in Europe is between Aircraft and France and the UK blockade German ports and in response the Germans send out Subs and Surface Raiders to strike back. In December the saga of the Commerce Raider (Heavy Cruiser) Graf Spee comes to a dramatic end after fighting a British force off the South American coast in the Battle of the River Plate.
Russia invades Finland and a bitter war is fought across the mostly frigid border.
Several Talents manifest themselves throughout the world and in Germany, the SS has already begun the "Ubermenschen" program (starting with Rahn the year before); and these Talents are trained for use as Commandos and for Propaganda purposes. Other Nations either turn their new Talents into similar Propaganda tools or quietly begin to separate them and try to discover what they can do and if their abilities can be replicated. All learn the same lesson: they can't.
-1940:
In early spring (March) the Finnish-Russian War ends with the Finns conceding a significant amount of land to the Russians.
In the early months of this year the war has barely caused any issues along the Western Front (the border of Germany and France and the Low Countries); to the point where many troops call it "the Phony War". In the spring the Germans shock the world with the speed and strength of their 'Blitzkrieg' (Lightning War) assault into France and the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands) and Denmark; showing the world the value of armored and mechanized infantry assaults. The day and age of trench warfare from the last World War are over.
By late April Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have been quickly conquered and France is collapsing with the BEF (British Expeditionary Force; a LARGE percentage of the British military) falling back towards Dunkirk and the world reeling in shock.
In a move designed to ensure the vital supply of iron ore from Scandinavia, Germany launches an ambitious amphibious assault on Norway and despite great loss to their surface Naval forces, they succeed in conquering the nation. British anger at this development leads to Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister.
In late May and early June the BEF is forced to abandon or destroy virtually all of their vehicles and artillery, but over 400,000 lives are saved in the dramatic and daring 'miracle at Dunkirk' whereby virtually any British or Free French vessel that could float made numerous trips across the English Channel to evacuate the men and in many ways "save the British Army".
In mid June Italy suddenly declares war on Britain and France and they roll into southern France and soon launch ill advised assaults on Greece and the British in Egypt. France surrenders on 22 June and a little over half of the nation is occupied by Germany and Italy while the rest remains nominally independent as "Vichy" France, though in reality, this is little more than a puppet state for Germany.
By July, Germany's Air Force, the Luftwaffe, was heavily engaged in bombarding Britain in attempts to neutralize the last major threat to their conquests in Europe. So began the 'Battle of Britain' in which the RAF (Royal Air Force) would win a heroic victory by September over the twice as large Luftwaffe, due in large part to the wonders of the new Secret technology of Radar.
In Africa and the Med, the Italians weren't doing very well with the British largely defeating their land forces and taking a great number of prisoners in Libya and the Royal Navy launching a daring attack from Carrier Planes that would sink 3 Italian capital ships at Taranto.....providing a blueprint the Japanese would follow the next year. They also were stalemated in their attack on Greece, basically failing all of their objectives when they declared war with the exception of the Fall of France, which was almost entirely due to the Germans.
At sea German U-boats and Surface Raiders are scoring successes, though their numbers are not yet sufficient to really make a difference.
The U.S., while still officially neutral, starts sending more and more military aide to the British in the form of "Lend Lease", including weapons, vehicles, ammunition, aircraft and 50 old destroyers.
As more and more Talents manifest themselves, the Germans begin using them in squad sized units to conduct special raids, assaults and the like; leading the British and Americans to create the "SSO" (Special Services Office) in late December of this year to copy the training and formation of these 'commando' units of the Germans and use them in similar fashion.
-1941
To support their flailing Italian allies, the Germans send an Armored force to North Africa known as the 'Afrika Korps' under the command of one Irwin Rommel and soon both the unit and the man will become legendary as they inflict numerous defeats over the British and drive them out of Libya and back into Egypt.
The Germans also launch assaults on Greece, Crete and Yugoslavia with Greece falling quickly after bitter fighting, Crete falling after a truly bloody airborne assault which decimates the elite German airborne troops to the point where they will never again undertake any airborne assaults and the fighting in Yugoslavia will take the form of viscous guerrilla fighting for the rest of the war.
In the summer of 1941 the Germans launch 'Operation Barbarossa', the invasion of the Soviet Union, catching the Russians by surprise and quickly driving them back and back and back to the outskirts of Moscow. However, the sheer size of the conquered area along with the large numbers of Soviet troops makes it difficult for the Germans to consolidate their massive gains and when the frigid Winter sets in, the German advance is stopped, just short miles from the Soviet capital.
In the Pacific, the various embargoes by the U.S. and British against the Japanese for their actions in China finally push Japan over the edge when the Allied nations impose an Oil embargo. Japan has no Oil of its own, and its low on other needed resources to feed its war machine, so it decides it will conquer Oil and Resource rich Sumatra and Indonesia; which will lead to war with Britain and the U.S. So, a decision is made to launch a devastating initial attack. Starting on December 7th/8th (depending on which side of the Date Line one is on); the Japanese inflict a devastating attack on Pearl Harbor and begin attacks and assaults on the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and Singapore, Hong Kong, Borneo/Sarawak, Wake, Guam, and the Dutch East Indies.
At this time, there are just under 100 Talents serving in the SSO, most of them British and most assigned to either Propaganda Tours, serving as special escorts to Heads of State or working as Commandoes in Europe and/or North Africa. The Axis Powers at this time are believed to have a total number of Talents of about twice this number; with many serving in unknown posts or engaged in Top Secret missions.....
Current Time for the game
-1939:
On September 1st Germany invades Poland and 2 days later, France and the UK declare war on Germany in response. At this time the Axis powers consist of Germany, Italy and Japan while France and the UK are Allied with the U.S. and U.S.S.R officially neutral at this time. Italy has conquered and continues to oppress various native peoples in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia while Japan has been in the middle of a shooting war with both of the main factions in China since 1937; the recognized Government of Chiang Kai-shek (the Nationalists) and the Communist forces of Mao Zedong....these factions sometimes allied to fight the Japanese and sometimes fought each other.
Poland is rapidly conquered by Germany and a secret treaty with the USSR leaves part of Poland to be grabbed by the Russians, though most of the world is unaware of this alliance.
Japan and the Russians fight a brief border war in NE Asia (near Mongolia); though basically, the pre combat borders basically remain the same.
Most of the fighting in Europe is between Aircraft and France and the UK blockade German ports and in response the Germans send out Subs and Surface Raiders to strike back. In December the saga of the Commerce Raider (Heavy Cruiser) Graf Spee comes to a dramatic end after fighting a British force off the South American coast in the Battle of the River Plate.
Russia invades Finland and a bitter war is fought across the mostly frigid border.
Several Talents manifest themselves throughout the world and in Germany, the SS has already begun the "Ubermenschen" program (starting with Rahn the year before); and these Talents are trained for use as Commandos and for Propaganda purposes. Other Nations either turn their new Talents into similar Propaganda tools or quietly begin to separate them and try to discover what they can do and if their abilities can be replicated. All learn the same lesson: they can't.
-1940:
In early spring (March) the Finnish-Russian War ends with the Finns conceding a significant amount of land to the Russians.
In the early months of this year the war has barely caused any issues along the Western Front (the border of Germany and France and the Low Countries); to the point where many troops call it "the Phony War". In the spring the Germans shock the world with the speed and strength of their 'Blitzkrieg' (Lightning War) assault into France and the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands) and Denmark; showing the world the value of armored and mechanized infantry assaults. The day and age of trench warfare from the last World War are over.
By late April Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have been quickly conquered and France is collapsing with the BEF (British Expeditionary Force; a LARGE percentage of the British military) falling back towards Dunkirk and the world reeling in shock.
In a move designed to ensure the vital supply of iron ore from Scandinavia, Germany launches an ambitious amphibious assault on Norway and despite great loss to their surface Naval forces, they succeed in conquering the nation. British anger at this development leads to Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister.
In late May and early June the BEF is forced to abandon or destroy virtually all of their vehicles and artillery, but over 400,000 lives are saved in the dramatic and daring 'miracle at Dunkirk' whereby virtually any British or Free French vessel that could float made numerous trips across the English Channel to evacuate the men and in many ways "save the British Army".
In mid June Italy suddenly declares war on Britain and France and they roll into southern France and soon launch ill advised assaults on Greece and the British in Egypt. France surrenders on 22 June and a little over half of the nation is occupied by Germany and Italy while the rest remains nominally independent as "Vichy" France, though in reality, this is little more than a puppet state for Germany.
By July, Germany's Air Force, the Luftwaffe, was heavily engaged in bombarding Britain in attempts to neutralize the last major threat to their conquests in Europe. So began the 'Battle of Britain' in which the RAF (Royal Air Force) would win a heroic victory by September over the twice as large Luftwaffe, due in large part to the wonders of the new Secret technology of Radar.
In Africa and the Med, the Italians weren't doing very well with the British largely defeating their land forces and taking a great number of prisoners in Libya and the Royal Navy launching a daring attack from Carrier Planes that would sink 3 Italian capital ships at Taranto.....providing a blueprint the Japanese would follow the next year. They also were stalemated in their attack on Greece, basically failing all of their objectives when they declared war with the exception of the Fall of France, which was almost entirely due to the Germans.
At sea German U-boats and Surface Raiders are scoring successes, though their numbers are not yet sufficient to really make a difference.
The U.S., while still officially neutral, starts sending more and more military aide to the British in the form of "Lend Lease", including weapons, vehicles, ammunition, aircraft and 50 old destroyers.
As more and more Talents manifest themselves, the Germans begin using them in squad sized units to conduct special raids, assaults and the like; leading the British and Americans to create the "SSO" (Special Services Office) in late December of this year to copy the training and formation of these 'commando' units of the Germans and use them in similar fashion.
-1941
To support their flailing Italian allies, the Germans send an Armored force to North Africa known as the 'Afrika Korps' under the command of one Irwin Rommel and soon both the unit and the man will become legendary as they inflict numerous defeats over the British and drive them out of Libya and back into Egypt.
The Germans also launch assaults on Greece, Crete and Yugoslavia with Greece falling quickly after bitter fighting, Crete falling after a truly bloody airborne assault which decimates the elite German airborne troops to the point where they will never again undertake any airborne assaults and the fighting in Yugoslavia will take the form of viscous guerrilla fighting for the rest of the war.
In the summer of 1941 the Germans launch 'Operation Barbarossa', the invasion of the Soviet Union, catching the Russians by surprise and quickly driving them back and back and back to the outskirts of Moscow. However, the sheer size of the conquered area along with the large numbers of Soviet troops makes it difficult for the Germans to consolidate their massive gains and when the frigid Winter sets in, the German advance is stopped, just short miles from the Soviet capital.
In the Pacific, the various embargoes by the U.S. and British against the Japanese for their actions in China finally push Japan over the edge when the Allied nations impose an Oil embargo. Japan has no Oil of its own, and its low on other needed resources to feed its war machine, so it decides it will conquer Oil and Resource rich Sumatra and Indonesia; which will lead to war with Britain and the U.S. So, a decision is made to launch a devastating initial attack. Starting on December 7th/8th (depending on which side of the Date Line one is on); the Japanese inflict a devastating attack on Pearl Harbor and begin attacks and assaults on the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and Singapore, Hong Kong, Borneo/Sarawak, Wake, Guam, and the Dutch East Indies.
At this time, there are just under 100 Talents serving in the SSO, most of them British and most assigned to either Propaganda Tours, serving as special escorts to Heads of State or working as Commandoes in Europe and/or North Africa. The Axis Powers at this time are believed to have a total number of Talents of about twice this number; with many serving in unknown posts or engaged in Top Secret missions.....
Current Time for the game
Re: WW2 Supers d6: BACKGROUND INFO
Quick Notes on Canadian and U.S. Army Ranks:
This is mostly for the SST 11 crew, but a quick comparison of (my take, slightly different that reality) the Enlisted Ranks for the Canadian and U.S. Army at this time (important as the FSSF is a combination U.S. and Canadian Unit)
Canadian Army (ranks from lowest to highest)
-Private (PVT)
-Lance Corporal (LCPL)
-Corproal (CPL)
-Sergeant (SGT)
-Staff Sergeant (SSGT)
-Master Sergeant (MSGT)
-Sergeant Major (SGT MAJ)
Notes: Typically Canadian soldiers will get promoted slower than their U.S. counterparts and ranks are largely equivalent in terms of responsibilities with their U.S. equivalents.
United States Army (ranks from lowest to highest)
-Private (PVT)
-Private First Class (PFC)
-Corporal (CPL)
-Sergeant (SGT)
-Staff Sergeant (SSGT) or Technical Sergeant (TSGT)...the latter is usually an Air Corps Rank
-First Sergeant (1st SGT)
-Sergeant Major (SGT MAJ) or Master Sergeant (MSGT)....the latter is usually an Air Corps Rank
This is mostly for the SST 11 crew, but a quick comparison of (my take, slightly different that reality) the Enlisted Ranks for the Canadian and U.S. Army at this time (important as the FSSF is a combination U.S. and Canadian Unit)
Canadian Army (ranks from lowest to highest)
-Private (PVT)
-Lance Corporal (LCPL)
-Corproal (CPL)
-Sergeant (SGT)
-Staff Sergeant (SSGT)
-Master Sergeant (MSGT)
-Sergeant Major (SGT MAJ)
Notes: Typically Canadian soldiers will get promoted slower than their U.S. counterparts and ranks are largely equivalent in terms of responsibilities with their U.S. equivalents.
United States Army (ranks from lowest to highest)
-Private (PVT)
-Private First Class (PFC)
-Corporal (CPL)
-Sergeant (SGT)
-Staff Sergeant (SSGT) or Technical Sergeant (TSGT)...the latter is usually an Air Corps Rank
-First Sergeant (1st SGT)
-Sergeant Major (SGT MAJ) or Master Sergeant (MSGT)....the latter is usually an Air Corps Rank
Re: WW2 Supers d6: BACKGROUND INFO
Also, some notes on the Structure of the First Special Service Force (FSSF):
This unique unit was originally conceived as a Regimental sized (2,500 people and despite being called a 'Brigade') force of 'Cold-weather Commandos' to be parachuted into Norway and be able to destroy important Power Generator, Mining and other German Economic Targets to disrupt Germany's War Production efforts and to tie down numerically larger German Military Units to relieve pressure on the Eastern Front.
As eventually established, the unit would be almost 3,000 strong (again, SLIGHTLY different than the Historical Unit) with a 'Combat Element' just over 2,000 strong and roughly 50% American Army and 50% Canadian Army in terms of personnel with a 'Service and Headquarters' Element just under 800 strong that was entirely American in personnel (save for some of the HQ leadership).
The unit was quite different in terms of its structure than almost any other U.S. OR Canadian unit and its Combat Element was Broken down as Follows:
The First, Second and Third Regiments were each composed of 704 troops (Typically Regiments had 1,000-3,000 personnel) broken down into 2 Battalions (336 men in each) and a HQ Platoon (32 men).
Each Battalion was broken down into 3 Companies of 108 men in each, plus a 12 man HQ Section (Canadian equivalent of a Squad).
Each Company broke down into 3 Platoons of 32 men in each, plus a HQ Section of 12 men.
Each Platoon broke down into 2 Sections of 12 men in each, plus a 4 Man HQ Team and a 4 Man Mortar Team for Fire Support.
Each Section of 12 men broke down into 3 Teams of 4 men in each.
The Non Combat Element broke down into 2 Service Battalions of 336 men in each and a HQ Company of 108 men.
Needless to say, the entire Force (2,892 men) was EXTREMELY Lean and all of its members were trained to be able to do multiple different jobs.
This unique unit was originally conceived as a Regimental sized (2,500 people and despite being called a 'Brigade') force of 'Cold-weather Commandos' to be parachuted into Norway and be able to destroy important Power Generator, Mining and other German Economic Targets to disrupt Germany's War Production efforts and to tie down numerically larger German Military Units to relieve pressure on the Eastern Front.
As eventually established, the unit would be almost 3,000 strong (again, SLIGHTLY different than the Historical Unit) with a 'Combat Element' just over 2,000 strong and roughly 50% American Army and 50% Canadian Army in terms of personnel with a 'Service and Headquarters' Element just under 800 strong that was entirely American in personnel (save for some of the HQ leadership).
The unit was quite different in terms of its structure than almost any other U.S. OR Canadian unit and its Combat Element was Broken down as Follows:
The First, Second and Third Regiments were each composed of 704 troops (Typically Regiments had 1,000-3,000 personnel) broken down into 2 Battalions (336 men in each) and a HQ Platoon (32 men).
Each Battalion was broken down into 3 Companies of 108 men in each, plus a 12 man HQ Section (Canadian equivalent of a Squad).
Each Company broke down into 3 Platoons of 32 men in each, plus a HQ Section of 12 men.
Each Platoon broke down into 2 Sections of 12 men in each, plus a 4 Man HQ Team and a 4 Man Mortar Team for Fire Support.
Each Section of 12 men broke down into 3 Teams of 4 men in each.
The Non Combat Element broke down into 2 Service Battalions of 336 men in each and a HQ Company of 108 men.
Needless to say, the entire Force (2,892 men) was EXTREMELY Lean and all of its members were trained to be able to do multiple different jobs.