For years, I've wanted to run a one-shot scenario or a short campaign between the 20th and 30th of April, set in a ruined Berlin with the PCs taking on the roles of SOE/OSS agents on the hunt for something terribly mysterious that mustn't fall into the hands of the Russians.
I'm starting preparations for a game like that now and I would like to get input from the Hive Mind on some vital aspects.
The McGuffin could be almost anything. The Spear of Longinus is traditional, the Amber Room is a lot cooler, albeit somewhat difficult to log around, and reading the right kind of literature ought to give me dozens of other good ideas.
More to the point, however, what is a plausible way to get a party of Western covert operatives into Berlin just ahead of the Russians?
What is a plausible way for them to be extracted?
What are good sources for the situation in Berlin in April 1945?
What might a team of up to a dozen agents expect to meet in the way of opposition on the way to Berlin or on the streets?
Assuming that they try to infiltrate as German soldiers, wounded or fleeing, how much remained of any coherent security? Officers who knew where any units were supposed to be?
Any other helpful suggestions are appreciated.
Edit with Update
Well, I've run two sessions. This is a
short capsule review of what the scenario entails.
The scenario is set in an alternate history where the changepoint is that in 1943, with the tide of the war overwhelmingly against the Germans, SS-Brigadeführer
Karl Maria Weisthor (Wiligut) somehow managed to get back into the good graces of the Reichsführer-SS and was reinstated to his rank and position on the Persönlicher Stab Reichsführer-SS. Somehow, however, the previously harmless, if wildly racist and hilariously deluded, pagan occult rituals that he likes to engage in now
work.
Important Secret Backstory (and
call for suggestions for scenes, encounters and set-design for the upcoming session).
While history before 1943 has remained true to our world in all ways except possibly some extremely subtle ways going way back, all of which match the real-world beliefs of at least some people in the real world, the change point means that many minor things are changed in 1943 onwards and the history of the last part of 1944 and the beginning of 1945 has been changed in many ways. True, the majority of the world's population is entirely ignorant of any changes, but to a select few, they are mind-shatteringly obvious.
Here's a description of what the Allies are doing in the
occult department during the war, especially once the previously ignored reports of occasional oddness start gaining credibility as 1944 goes on.
Here's a list of
PCs and the rest of the Allied commandos taking part in
Operation Brünnhilde. Some
descriptions of the PCs, proposed
roles for pre-gen characters and
early concepts for pre-gen characters.
The target of the Allied commandos is the fictional Weltmittelspunktbunker, located near the Reichkanzlei, where the inner core of Himmler's SS has taken refuge, led by his
12 Black Knights and secret coven of sorcerers. Here, they must seize or destroy the
Bernsteinzimmer (Amber Room) before Walpurgisnacht. The alternative, according to the occult boffins, would be at the very least
an unimaginable catastrophe or even possibly the end of the world.
Obviously, the finale of the scenario is set in the Zitadelle sector of central Berlin, where all the government buildings are located. Some other locations in the first session are discussed in
this post.
First session involved
saving Hermann Fegelein from the RSD men Hitler sent after him.
And here are some tantalising snippets of the PCs' adventures in the second session:
First Evidence of the Odd - The Howling of Wolves in the Night
The Nature of the Foe - Totenkopf Stormtroopers and SS-Sonderkommando Jäger
First Contact - Ambush of the SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger
Stats for their foes:
Stormstroopers of SS-Sturmkampfgruppe Totenkopf (
still some mechanical issues to be worked out).
Jäger of SS-Sonderlehrgang z. b. V. Jötunheim ('Jagdverband Wehrwolf').
Dgra Bla Warrior of the Third Root Race.
Sger pa caste Zimchongpa warriors (
still only suggestions, awaiting forumite comments).