World at War!: Hitler's minions

[Dr. Confoundo]

I am putting together a WW2 campaign for my group, and I thought some of you good people might have some cool ideas for me.

 

The setting: With the United States' entrance into the European theatre in World War 2, Hitler and the top Nazi mystics of the Ahnenerbe needed a new source of power to insure their victory over the Allied armies. Luckily for them, one of their investigative teams found something during the time that the Germans occupied Norway - a cup whose translated runes would eventually lead them to the cavern where Loki lay bound until Ragnarok. Rescuing the weakened Loki from his eternal torment, the Ahnenerbe team returned the god to Berlin, where Hitler and Loki struck a bargain: the god would use his magics to create 12 mystical runestones, which would bestow great powers upon a chosen handful of Germany's finest soldiers. Thus, the Nazi's first superhumans were created.

 

Unbeknownst to Hitler, Loki knew that he couldn't utilize all of the runes, for they were rightly Odin's, as he had hung for nine days on the Yggdrasil tree to learn them. Odin will take the remaining 12 runes and give them to the Allies, creating a countering group of superheroes (and, of course, the PCs).

***

 

I've determined what a few of the Nazi Runekriegers will be, but I still have a few left. The ones I've detailed so far are:

 

Kommandant Nebel (Commander Mist) Wunjo - Air: Able to transform his body into various mists and gases, this SS officer acts as an intelligence gatherer.

 

Schallwelle (Soundwave) Ansuz - Sound/Signals: This Luftwaffe pilot gained control over sonics, giving him the ability to fly and project force fields, as well as increased strength. He often uses his powers to disable Allied bombers and jets.

 

Fenris Fehu - Animal: A former Jäger officer, the bestial Fenris now can transform himself into a huge white wolf. He also has limited mental control over wolves.

 

Der Komet (The Comet) Ehwaz - Move/Travel: A former Olympic runner (beaten by Jesse Owens in 1936), this Wehrmacht soldier now has incredible speed, able to travel from Berlin to the warfront in record time.

 

Doktor Zahnrad (Dr. Gear) Tiwaz - Knowledge/Naming: One of the few non-military members of the Runekriegers, this engineer/scientist has created a suit of battle armor that greatly increases his strength and fighting ability. In addition, his increased intellect allows him to create and control a wide variety of robotic attack vehicles.

 

That leaves me with the following runes. Anyone want to help me?

 

Raidho - Necromancy/Soul

 

Kenaz - Fire

 

Nauthiz - Mind

 

Manaz - Body/Man/Human

 

Sowilo - Create

 

Ingwaz - Healing/Fertility

 

Hagalaz - Break/Weaken/Harm

[Superskrull]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Interesting idea there.

 

You could make the wielder of the Hagalaz rune able to summon Mjolnir. I've seen some translations that indicate it can mean "That which smashes" and that should work nicely Call him Hammer. It's apparently the same word in German. Can't you see him smiting tanks and walloping PCs with abandon?

 

How about using Raidho to create Deathmask or Totenmaske, the unkillable fighter? Beats the traditional idea of a zombie master.

 

Manaz could create the Doppleganger, a concept so generic I had to say it.

 

Other than that, I've been at work all night and I need sleep badly.

[Sundog]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

For the Hagalaz Rune - I might suggest a martial artist. My German is bad, but something like "The Sergeant" or "The Cadre" for a name - a grizzled old veteran, fought all the way through WWI, been training recruits forever. Give him the whole set of Commando Training and Dirty Infighting maneuvers - he knows all the tricks - and plenty of skill levels.

So what does the Rune give him? Find Weakness on all Martial Maneuvers. Against him, all are weak.

[OddHat]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Good setting idea.

 

 

Raidho - Necromancy/Soul - Just what it says on the package, an SS Officer who is able to use the enslaved souls of concentraiton camp victims as information sources and as fuel for the darkest rituals. Extracts information from captured allied soldiers by torturing them until their souls are driven from their body to be enslaved or consumed, then sends the animated corpses of those soldiers back to their units (perhaps driven by other enslaved souls, demons, or their own chained spirits) to act as spies and sabateurs.

Kenaz - Fire - Flightless Nazi Human Torch, with the added ability to see and move through flames, a master spy and assassin who can step out of any fireplace in Europe or America, kill, and flee to safety before the allies can hope to call in their own supers.

Nauthiz - Mind Another SS Soldier, brutal and stupid, but able to steal the thoughts and memories of others (Telepathy and Transfer INT) leaving the best spies of the OSS babbling imbeciles and handing all their secrets to Hitler on a silver platter. As he becomes more intelligent through theft of memories, he is driven deeper into madness.

Manaz - Body/Man/Human - Magni, Strength personified, a posing and initially handsome absurdly overmuscled regenerating brick. As the war goes on and he heals again and again from hideous injuries, he becomes both stronger and inhumanly grotesque.

Sowilo - Create - SS Mystic and student of Indian and Tibettan magic able to create virtually anything he can clearly imagine as Tulpas thought-forms. His thought forms themselves, monsters of every description, eventually take on their own quasi-life, preying on the axis and the allies alike.

Ingwaz - Healing/Fertility A new Vakyrie, healing german soldiers, raising the dead as mindless, battle obsessed and nearly unkilable mad men, and turning German "volunteers" and captured non-Germans of good stock into endlessly fertile breeding machines.

Hagalaz - Break/Weaken/Harm A simple german soldier with an aura of decay that, even when he's relatively calm, slowly destroys everything around him (Unluck). When he concentrates on destruction, he is able to destroy almost anything in a single blow (Find Weakness and a large HA) or cause it to fall apart from a distance (Ranged Body Drain).

[MitchellS]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Raidho - Necromancy/Soul - Just what ut says on the package, an SS Officer who is able to use the enslaved souls of concentraiton camp victims as information sources and as fuel for hideous rituals. Extracts information from captured allied soldiers by torturing them until their souls are driven from their body to be enslaved or consumed, then sends the animated corpses of those soldiers back to their units (perhaps driven by other enslaved souls, demons, or their own chained spirits) to act as spies and sabateurs.

Kenaz - Fire - Flightless Nazi Human Torch, with the added ability to see and move through flames, a master spy and assassin who can step out of any fireplace in Europe or America, kill, and flee to safety before the allies can hope to call in their own supers.

Consider these two stolen for my M&M game. I especially like Kenaz as that is such a simple, yet effective, concept.

[OddHat]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Consider these two stolen for my M&M game. I especially like Kenaz as that is such a simple' date=' yet effective, concept. [/quote']

 

Thanks, glad you liked them.

[Metaphysician]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

For Manaz, I'd suggest a "Captain Nazi" ubermensch. All around physical boost so he's like an elite soldier, except superhuman all around.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Truly a great idea. I especially like your use of the Fehu rune. Operation Werwolf indeed!

 

Just about all I can suggest for right now is that whoever winds up with Kenaz should be female; based on what I remember reading about that rune, it's got something to do with Freyja (who in some versions is a goddess of fire as well as passion and war). Maybe she was a femme fatale/spy before getting powered up?

 

As for Hagalaz, many of the suggestion work well for it, but as Hagalaz could also mean chaos (which in Norse terms is usually linked to the destructive power of the giants and trolls), then if you use Sundog's martial artist idea, then maybe his talent isn't just finding the weaknesses of others, but in striking them with ill luck.

 

Good luck!

[Superskrull]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Is there any chance of synergistic power use between two or more Runekriegers? You know, a power they might only invoke in a combined ritual or something?

[SuperPheemy]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

For Manaz' date=' I'd suggest a "Captain Nazi" ubermensch. All around physical boost so he's like an elite soldier, except superhuman all around.[/quote']

 

I'd reccomend using Otto Skorzeny for Manaz. He was the Reich's top Kommando during the war. Wrap him up in a flag, and make him the tactical leader.

[Dr. Confoundo]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

You could make the wielder of the Hagalaz rune able to summon Mjolnir. I've seen some translations that indicate it can mean "That which smashes" and that should work nicely Call him Hammer. It's apparently the same word in German. Can't you see him smiting tanks and walloping PCs with abandon?

 

Not a bad idea. Especially since Loki would see the humor inherent in giving away the powers of Thor.

[Dr. Confoundo]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Raidho - Necromancy/Soul - Just what it says on the package' date=' an SS Officer who is able to use the enslaved souls of concentraiton camp victims as information sources and as fuel for the darkest rituals. Extracts information from captured allied soldiers by torturing them until their souls are driven from their body to be enslaved or consumed, then sends the animated corpses of those soldiers back to their units (perhaps driven by other enslaved souls, demons, or their own chained spirits) to act as spies and sabateurs.[/quote']

I hadn't considered the concentration camp angle for this rune, especially as one of the PCs is playing a British Jew whose father died getting the two of them out of Germany. This could even be a Dr. Mengele or someone similar.

 

Manaz - Body/Man/Human - Magni, Strength personified, a posing and initially handsome absurdly overmuscled regenerating brick. As the war goes on and he heals again and again from hideous injuries, he becomes both stronger and inhumanly grotesque.

I like that twist on it. I knew he was going to be a 'Captain Nazi' type, but I didn't know what else to do with him.

Sowilo - Create - SS Mystic and student of Indian and Tibettan magic able to create virtually anything he can clearly imagine as Tulpas thought-forms. His thought forms themselves, monsters of every description, eventually take on their own quasi-life, breying on the axis and the allies alike.

Oooo... Tulpas. Very cool idea, and directly ties in with what the Ahnenerbe were researching. A nice twist on Green Lantern powers.

 

Thanks.

[Dr. Confoundo]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Is there any chance of synergistic power use between two or more Runekriegers? You know' date=' a power they might only invoke in a combined ritual or something?[/quote']

I hadn't planned on it, but that could easily be the plot of a particular adventure. Fire + Create + Harm = Nuclear Bomb?

[Weldun]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

You might want to also check out Michael Surbrook's Site, specifically the Machines Section of Pictures That Could Be Superheroes. There's a couple of nazi warmachines there.

[Dr. Confoundo]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

You might want to also check out Michael Surbrook's Site' date=' specifically the Machines Section of Pictures That Could Be Superheroes. There's a couple of nazi warmachines there.

Very cool! Thanks for the link!

[Dr. Confoundo]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

So we had the second session of the game last night, which as planned was the origin episode.

 

Previously, starting the campaign a couple days after D-Day, the PCs (two US army grunts, a medic, and an attached British sapper) were sent on a quick mission into a wooded area to track down info about some downed US flyboys. The local French Resistance supporters gave them general info on where to head, but they also warned the PCs that the woods were said to be haunted. The PCs tracked some Germans into the woods, rescued a pilot, and eventually got themselves into a big fire-fight with a squad of Germans and a strange man in a white greatcoat, who could apparently turn himself into mist. (Anyone who has access to Pinnacle's d20 game Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine will recognize the introductory scenario, except the horror/magic has been replaced with superpowers [although the PCs don't know that yet]).

 

But last night was when the PCs were brought into the contest between Loki and Odin. After the previous adventure, one of the PCs (a scientific doubter of magic) was unable to explain the strange sights they encountered, and explained it to his commaning officers as probable exposure to a hallucination-inducing gas being tested by the Nazis. The next day, a British intelligence agent named Oswald Rowan came asking the PCs about this report of potential gas usage, and enlisted them into a mission to investigate reports of a lab in a chateau being occupied by a local German high-commander. Disguising themselves as German soldiers, the team made their way across enemy lines in a stolen German truck, eventually finding and entering the chateau. After some sneaking around, a huge fire-fight erupted in a war-room that the Nazis had established in the cellar of the chateau. The team made quick work of their opponents, located the secret chemical laboratory, and were making their way out of the cellar toting two large cannisters of the hallucinogenic gas when one of the Germans who they had left for dead stood up and raked them with machine gun fire, killing the British intelligence officer and rupturing one of the gas cannisters.

 

The gas knocked the PCs out, and one by one, they awoke to find themselves trudging through a fog-enshrouded forest, weaponless and alone. They topple down a muddy incline, landing in lake-water. The fog parts, and they notice ahead of them, on an island in the lake, a cloaked man beckoning them forward, his large-brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes.

 

"A contest has begun, a wager has been made. I didn't start it, but now that I have been drawn in, I need champions. Will you be my champion?"

 

He handed the PCs a number of strips of birch-bark, upon which had been inscribed various runes, and they were advised to choose one. After choosing one randomly (or not, see below*), he wished them luck, and the vision vanished...

 

...And they awoke to find themselves back in the chateau's cellar, being awakened by a squad of British paratroopers who had taken control over the chateau. The paratroopers were told that the PCs were down in the cellar by man matching the description of the British intelligence officer, who had now disappeared. The commander of the British squad, a Lieutenant Rowan, told them, "He said that he had to return the intelligence he had gathered, but he did want me to give you these." Out from his pocket he pulled a number of strips of birch-bark, inscribed with strange germanic runes...

 

***

 

So now the PCs will be developing powers to fight their Nazi counterparts. The ones they drew were:

 

The sniper drew the Elhaz rune, which stands for Protection/Guard. I'm considering giving him a suite of Absorption based powers, similar to the Wild Cards character Snotman aka the Reflector.

 

The ex-criminal drew the Jera rune, which stands for Plant. My early ideas are to give him Swamp Thing-esque abilities, but with a price: the more often he changes into his brick-like wooden form, the plant-like more qualities his body retains in his human form... eventually, he may not have a human form to revert to.

 

The medic drew the Dagaz rune, which stands for Light/Darkness. He wanted a more think-y character, so my first thought is to give him less in the way of lasers and light blasts, but more Green Lantern abilities: able to generate constructs and shapes of coherent-light, along with flight and force fields.

 

*Finally, the British character is the son of an archaeologist and has Eidetic Memory; his combination of skills and background gave him basic knowledge of what the runes stood for. He passed up the runes for Strength, Earth, and Control, and instead chose Pertho, which stands for Illusion/Mystery. He will probably be gaining a set of mind-based Illusion powers, along with psionic invisibility, and the ability to cloud others minds.

 

Any cool ideas on what other powers to give the PCs?

[OddHat]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

Any cool ideas on what other powers to give the PCs?

 

All of them get high BODY, Regeneration and Regrow Limbs, and (if you're feeling kind) a high CON. Now, WWII Iron Age style, you can blow seven kinds of hell out of them and they'll still be able to fight by the next scene.

[proditor]

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

 

There's a few more (Admittedly slightly bizarre ones) vehicles here as well: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/champsstuff/ground/ground.htm