Long Road to Harbin

nothri · 05-19-2018, 12:26 AM

Unhappy that the forum ate the long version of my post. So cliffnotes ahoy.

Harbin is a big city in far east Asia. In the world of Reich-5 it would be located in Manchukou in the Japanese Empire.

Harbin isn't a fun city. Based on policies of the Japanese during WW2 it would be heavily industralized and crime ridden. Crime would be a major business, in fact, since the Japanese worked hand in hand with the underworld at the time. Exportation of opium and deliberate attempts to addict local populations as an added means of control are likely. Casinos and brothels rise up in the slums as the only businesses available to non-japanese people outside of factory slave labor. Thought police monitor dissidents, and Unit 731 makes short work of insurgents.

But as awful as life can be, its better than the inside of a deathcamp. You see, Japan on this world never stopped the Fugu Plan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish...apanese_Empire
With the fall of Britain and America the far east is now the only safe haven left to the Jewish community.

PCs are native characters, or a Homeline Israeli operation looking to save victims on the world, or a Homeline ICop operation looking to stop the Israeli operation. Things go real bad, conveyors are broken, and the PCs are on the run with perhaps resistance and Jewish refugees in toe. Union Party members or Nazis are in hot pursuit.

There are deep cover agents operating in Harbin looking after the substantial Jewish community in that city. There are two routes available, depending on where you want to start this scenario. One is the transiberian railroad. The other begins in Seattle, crosses into Vancouver and along the Japanese controlled coast, then under the Bering Strait railroad tunnel and on to Harbin. Either way we're talking mile after mile of remote, rough terrain and a train full of US and/or German spies.

SolemnGolem · 05-20-2018, 01:58 AM

Looks good, nothri! Sorry that the Internet gremlins ate your detailed post - I hate it when that happens!

Harbin looks like a good place to have a multifaceted Far East Axis Victorious campaign, as it's got the industrialized aspects of Manchukuo, some Soviet-Russian presence, and it's close enough to the villainous Japanese while also sufficiently far away from the Chinese coast for hinterland shenanigans and resistance movements.

Depending on when your campaign is set, Henry Pu Yi (homeline last Qing dynasty emperor, Reich-5 possible sustained Manchukuo puppet ruler) could be a satrap or suzerain of the Japanese throne, nominally ruling over the northwestern Manchurian fiefdom of the dead Chinese Empire.

The Western colonies all along the Chinese coast (German Qingdao, British Hong Kong, Portuguese Macao, Russians in Port Arthur, and multinational concessions in Tianjin etc.) would likely be eliminated and under Japanese rule, although it's possible that friendly Western powers might have minor presences there.

If a "nightmare Axis" Reich-5 outcome is desired, then a GM could handwave a firm Japanese seizure of power all throughout China. If a more logistically feasible outcome is desired, Japan might be mostly restricted to the coast and port cities, and indirectly wielding power over the inland Chinese remnant via warlords. With China's centralized government fragmented, just as it was in Homeline, this time there will be no Chiang Kai-Shek to unite them, and no Mao Zedong to overthrow the KMT. Warlords and fiefdoms would be a precarious balance of power, with the Japanese relying on their internal squabbles and narrow self-interest to allow the Pax Japonica, while remaining vigilant for any warlord who grows too powerful. (On the presumption that the massive Chinese populace would remain as hostile to Japanese depredations in Reich-5 as they were in Homeline.)

I did run one campaign (in the DnD 2nd ed. rules, using the Gothic Earth ruleset for the Ravenloft setting) where the PCs opposed the machinations of the campaign's "evil god" übervillain, the Red Death. They spent most of the campaign working on intel against the IJA, and the final parts secured them enough US and UK support to fly in heavy weapons over the Hump and roll back the Japanese along the Changjiang (Yangzi River). At the end of the campaign, the PCs and the Allied diplomats and occultists all celebrate the elimination of the Red Death's supposed agents in the Far East, namely the IJA. And the campaign closed with news of a strengthening peasant movement led by a charismatic revolutionary who would bring peace and order to the nation.

05-19-2018, 12:26 AM	#1
nothri Join Date: Sep 2012	Long Road to Harbin Unhappy that the forum ate the long version of my post. So cliffnotes ahoy. Harbin is a big city in far east Asia. In the world of Reich-5 it would be located in Manchukou in the Japanese Empire. Harbin isn't a fun city. Based on policies of the Japanese during WW2 it would be heavily industralized and crime ridden. Crime would be a major business, in fact, since the Japanese worked hand in hand with the underworld at the time. Exportation of opium and deliberate attempts to addict local populations as an added means of control are likely. Casinos and brothels rise up in the slums as the only businesses available to non-japanese people outside of factory slave labor. Thought police monitor dissidents, and Unit 731 makes short work of insurgents. But as awful as life can be, its better than the inside of a deathcamp. You see, Japan on this world never stopped the Fugu Plan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish...apanese_Empire With the fall of Britain and America the far east is now the only safe haven left to the Jewish community. PCs are native characters, or a Homeline Israeli operation looking to save victims on the world, or a Homeline ICop operation looking to stop the Israeli operation. Things go real bad, conveyors are broken, and the PCs are on the run with perhaps resistance and Jewish refugees in toe. Union Party members or Nazis are in hot pursuit. There are deep cover agents operating in Harbin looking after the substantial Jewish community in that city. There are two routes available, depending on where you want to start this scenario. One is the transiberian railroad. The other begins in Seattle, crosses into Vancouver and along the Japanese controlled coast, then under the Bering Strait railroad tunnel and on to Harbin. Either way we're talking mile after mile of remote, rough terrain and a train full of US and/or German spies.

05-20-2018, 01:58 AM	#2
SolemnGolem Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: The Hall of Fallen Columns	Re: Long Road to Harbin Looks good, nothri! Sorry that the Internet gremlins ate your detailed post - I hate it when that happens! Harbin looks like a good place to have a multifaceted Far East Axis Victorious campaign, as it's got the industrialized aspects of Manchukuo, some Soviet-Russian presence, and it's close enough to the villainous Japanese while also sufficiently far away from the Chinese coast for hinterland shenanigans and resistance movements. Depending on when your campaign is set, Henry Pu Yi (homeline last Qing dynasty emperor, Reich-5 possible sustained Manchukuo puppet ruler) could be a satrap or suzerain of the Japanese throne, nominally ruling over the northwestern Manchurian fiefdom of the dead Chinese Empire. The Western colonies all along the Chinese coast (German Qingdao, British Hong Kong, Portuguese Macao, Russians in Port Arthur, and multinational concessions in Tianjin etc.) would likely be eliminated and under Japanese rule, although it's possible that friendly Western powers might have minor presences there. If a "nightmare Axis" Reich-5 outcome is desired, then a GM could handwave a firm Japanese seizure of power all throughout China. If a more logistically feasible outcome is desired, Japan might be mostly restricted to the coast and port cities, and indirectly wielding power over the inland Chinese remnant via warlords. With China's centralized government fragmented, just as it was in Homeline, this time there will be no Chiang Kai-Shek to unite them, and no Mao Zedong to overthrow the KMT. Warlords and fiefdoms would be a precarious balance of power, with the Japanese relying on their internal squabbles and narrow self-interest to allow the Pax Japonica, while remaining vigilant for any warlord who grows too powerful. (On the presumption that the massive Chinese populace would remain as hostile to Japanese depredations in Reich-5 as they were in Homeline.) I did run one campaign (in the DnD 2nd ed. rules, using the Gothic Earth ruleset for the Ravenloft setting) where the PCs opposed the machinations of the campaign's "evil god" übervillain, the Red Death. They spent most of the campaign working on intel against the IJA, and the final parts secured them enough US and UK support to fly in heavy weapons over the Hump and roll back the Japanese along the Changjiang (Yangzi River). At the end of the campaign, the PCs and the Allied diplomats and occultists all celebrate the elimination of the Red Death's supposed agents in the Far East, namely the IJA. And the campaign closed with news of a strengthening peasant movement led by a charismatic revolutionary who would bring peace and order to the nation.