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Kurieg posted:what I thought droit du seigneur was a myth. Or is this one of those times where bad WoD writers just go for the most pop culture version of history available and run with it?
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Oct 14, 2016 23:29
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The Sin of Onan posted:I thought droit du seigneur was a myth. Or is this one of those times where bad WoD writers just go for the most pop culture version of history available and run with it? Of course they ran with it. It has a French name, so it obviously fits into 21th Century France with no issues. At all.
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Oct 14, 2016 23:33
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The Sin of Onan posted:I thought droit du seigneur was a myth. Or is this one of those times where bad WoD writers just go for the most pop culture version of history available and run with it? It's the latter.
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Oct 14, 2016 23:33
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Hostile V posted:Masks also only take one bashing damage from any source at any given time, no matter the cause. So I assume the correct way to deal with them is to skip dealing damage and just turn them into a lawnchair?
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Oct 14, 2016 23:36
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Doresh posted:Of course they ran with it. It has a French name, so it obviously fits into 21th Century France with no issues. At all. Spain. Yes. Spain.
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Oct 14, 2016 23:36
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Mors Rattus posted:Spain. Bad WoD books have destroyed my brain.
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Oct 14, 2016 23:39
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Mors Rattus posted:Spain. RE 4 ruined that country like it ruined survival horror.
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Oct 14, 2016 23:42
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Kavak posted:RE 4 ruined that country like it ruined survival horror. RE4 is one of the best third person shooters and gonzo horror-comedies ever made good sir. I agree it is not survival horror.
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Oct 14, 2016 23:43
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Dave Brookshaw posted:It was written by me, the Mage Developer. That section of crossover notes was split between me and Travis (the Geist Developer). I wrote all of mine from the perspective that Beasts are kinda hilariously evil; I did Mage, Promethean, and Mummy. And you have my thanks for it. The crossover notes are the most frank the book has been with it's central premise in a good long while and it's a breath of fresh air. You also wrote one of my favorite stories in the Anthology, second only to the Promethean one.
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Oct 15, 2016 00:02
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The Lone Badger posted:So I assume the correct way to deal with them is to skip dealing damage and just turn them into a lawnchair?
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Oct 15, 2016 00:13
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The Lone Badger posted:So I assume the correct way to deal with them is to skip dealing damage and just turn them into a lawnchair? The impression Mage always has given me (and part of why I'm... just not very interested in the line) is that they always have the 'snap your fingers' solution to all problems, "lol ur a lanwchair nao', without anyone else being able to do anything about it as long as it's done 'cleverly' and they have Prep Time.
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Oct 15, 2016 07:00
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Crasical posted:The impression Mage always has given me (and part of why I'm... just not very interested in the line) is that they always have the 'snap your fingers' solution to all problems, "lol ur a lanwchair nao', without anyone else being able to do anything about it as long as it's done 'cleverly' and they have Prep Time. I've always hated Mage, but I think mechanically and thematically they've tried to cut down on that part and that a lot of that was fanon. Something about the Consensual Reality bits in it always rubbed me the wrong way, though.
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Oct 15, 2016 07:03
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Ratoslov posted:I'm honestly surprised that there isn't a bit in there about how the God Machine likes Beasts and thinks they're the only puny mortals that really get it on a deep level and likes to take them for rides on it's pony and go out for ice-cream. I'm happy there isn't. In fact, I was hoping there'd be more animosity there-the God Machine should hate Beasts and vice versa because they're incredibly disruptive, chaotic things which stir poo poo up (while the God Machine tends towards maintaining the status quo) and Beasts hate Demons because Demons are basically ex-cops who are now stuck in prison with the other inmates.
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Oct 15, 2016 07:13
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Doresh posted:So they're the cops from Kamen Rider Kuuga, who towards the end figured out that a much better alternative to "have the weirdo in the costume kick the monster so hard it explodes like a friggin' nuke" was to develop bullets that cancelled the monster's healing factor by exploding with just the right timing to throw them off. Killin cops with Sydney and Trapper.
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Oct 15, 2016 07:20
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Night10194 posted:I've always hated Mage, but I think mechanically and thematically they've tried to cut down on that part and that a lot of that was fanon. As I recall, the lawnchair maneuver was a too-loose interpretation of Vampires as unliving Matter, and therefore easy prey for a Mage with a few ranks in that Sphere. I've seen a few hinky interpretations of Forces to translate street lamps into sunlight, too.
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Oct 15, 2016 08:00
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Night10194 posted:I've always hated Mage, but I think mechanically and thematically they've tried to cut down on that part and that a lot of that was fanon. The other was mostly "can do anything (dice pool 3, difficulty 8)" in my opinion - even starting level mages were either tremendously powerful OR completely hosed and a shitload of it depended on how much the DM assigned or ruled on various things.
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Oct 15, 2016 08:20
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Nessus posted:It's funny how the deconstructive works have often caught on in the Western nerd landscape when the stuff that plays it relatively straight didn't. Like I guess a lot of it involved toy licensing deals, but Gundam and super robot shows didn't get over: Evangelion did. The magical girl merch train (save for Sailor Moon) didn't, but Madoka seized the brains of many a nerd. Gundam did come over, though. Wing, back in 2000. Big hit, had a fuckoff huge toyline. They even kept things going for a bit with G, which is as near as Gundam gets to pure Super Robot. It's just Bandai kind of stumbled on multiple fronts at once, both by airing the original 1979 Gundam on Toonami when people really were not prepared for its... distinctive animation style, and by making toys for every one-off loser mech in G, including the Windmill, flooding store shelves with toys that nobody wanted. Killed the momentum, so Seed and 00 were more or less DOA when they finally got their shot. Took until, well, now for it to get another go, with the current series airing on Toonami. Of course... well, Gundam's a deconstruction too. Like, it's a basic thing ABOUT Gundam. It created a new subgenre by reacting to everything that came before it. The teen pilot wasn't a kung fu badass. He's an obnoxious little shut-in poo poo who needed to be belted in the face before he'd fly a mission. The Captain wasn't some wizened military mentor. He's another teenager who is in WAY over his head and is desperately trying to pretend he knows what he's doing after everyone higher in the chain of command wound up with a minor case of dead. The hero's father IS the brilliant scientist who built the robot. He also nearly died and the lack of oxygen hosed up his brain enough that when he finally shows up to offer an "upgrade" it's useless crap from a junk shop. The space invaders weren't aliens or demons from Space Hell. They were just people with a different political philosophy trying to stay alive after their leaders kicked off a monstrous war. And to cap it off, instead of being a one-off godlike being, the Gundam was just tech, a fancy space tank that eventually got a mass production model. The only reason the original doesn't read as an "edgy deconstruction" is that it's old enough to be part of the old guard itself.
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Oct 15, 2016 08:22
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chiasaur11 posted:The only reason the original doesn't read as an "edgy deconstruction" is that it's old enough to be part of the old guard itself. NGE has has made the angsty, useless boy pilot the default assumption. But man did the original not pull any punches. The whole Side 7 incident is like anti-war film material. (Though it's kinda funny how falling in love for even a moment is an automatic kiss of death for at least one of the lovers.)
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Oct 15, 2016 08:48
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chiasaur11 posted:Gundam did come over, though. Wing, back in 2000. Big hit, had a fuckoff huge toyline. They even kept things going for a bit with G, which is as near as Gundam gets to pure Super Robot. It's just Bandai kind of stumbled on multiple fronts at once, both by airing the original 1979 Gundam on Toonami when people really were not prepared for its... distinctive animation style, and by making toys for every one-off loser mech in G, including the Windmill, flooding store shelves with toys that nobody wanted. Killed the momentum, so Seed and 00 were more or less DOA when they finally got their shot. Took until, well, now for it to get another go, with the current series airing on Toonami. Even the big bad guy rival of the series, Char Aznable, is not evil for the sake of being evil, he has his own kind of noble motives in seeking revenge against the Zabi family, who murdered his father and corrupted his ideals. The reason he pursues the Gundam and White Base means it can get him closer to the Zabi family, so he can get into position to pull off his backstabbing like he does Garma and Kishiria. chiasaur11 posted:And to cap it off, instead of being a one-off godlike being, the Gundam was just tech, a fancy space tank that eventually got a mass production model. It would have been nice if the GM was actually better than the Gundam. I believe that happens in the novelizations, with the Gundam/Gunboy eventually producing a superior mass-production version. Doresh posted:NGE has has made the angsty, useless boy pilot the default assumption. The novelization is even more brutal. There's a part where Amuro is running for cover and believes he trips over a log, but when he turns around, it's a charred human being.
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Oct 15, 2016 09:39
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Young Freud posted:Even the big bad guy rival of the series, Char Aznable, is not evil for the sake of being evil, he has his own kind of noble motives in seeking revenge against the Zabi family, who murdered his father and corrupted his ideals. The reason he pursues the Gundam and White Base means it can get him closer to the Zabi family, so he can get into position to pull off his backstabbing like he does Garma and Kishiria. "Decapitation via rocket launcher to the face" is probably the most glorious display of backstabbing I have ever seen. quote:It would have been nice if the GM was actually better than the Gundam. I believe that happens in the novelizations, with the Gundam/Gunboy eventually producing a superior mass-production version. Blame mecha shows' fetish for prototypes. They don't come with a bunch of quirks no one ever expected or planned, they're just better. quote:The novelization is even more brutal. There's a part where Amuro is running for cover and believes he trips over a log, but when he turns around, it's a charred human being. Lovely.
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Oct 15, 2016 10:08
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The novelization also ends with Amuro being killed by a random Zaku with a bazooka. No glorious sacrifice, no dying speech, his luck just runs out and he's gone. It's got the same problems of most anti-war media and it drifted as time went on (Tomino admits he would've spared Amuro in the novelization if he knew the anime would spawn sequels), but better that then poo poo like GATE.
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Oct 15, 2016 10:24
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Also people poo poo their pants a lot. In this, they are like all of us.
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Oct 15, 2016 10:30
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Kavak posted:The novelization also ends with Amuro being killed by a random Zaku with a bazooka. No glorious sacrifice, no dying speech, his luck just runs out and he's gone.
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Oct 15, 2016 10:38
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Terrible Opinions posted:Well GATE is explicitly pro-military propaganda, and has the same level of artistic merit as Trump campaign commercials. Which is a bit of a shame because I honestly like the basic concept of the series with Fantasy meeting Modern but the execution of it is just so bad. chiasaur11 posted:Killed the momentum, so Seed and 00 were more or less DOA when they finally got their shot. Seed's biggest issue in my eyes was that it was just a retelling of the original storyline in a new timeline and that it went way overboard than its predecessor in making the main character the chosen one. The fact that it also later spawned Destiny as a sequel doesn't help it much either because that thing was dire and pretty much ended my interest in the franchise.
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Oct 15, 2016 11:01
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Cooked Auto posted:Seed's biggest issue in my eyes was that it was just a retelling of the original storyline in a new timeline and that it went way overboard than its predecessor in making the main character the chosen one. Didn't the non-UC Gundams tone down the general lethality of combat for the pilots to GI Joe levels of "Nope, they're fine"? (Not that UC Gundams have become any better thanks to Newtype power creep changing them from "I can somehow pilot this thing wihtout much of experience and training" to "The best mobile suits and weapons are powered by my vaguely-defined powers? Neat." and finally "I'm a wizard!") Doresh fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Oct 15, 2016 |
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Oct 15, 2016 11:39
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Doresh posted:Didn't the non-UC Gundams tone down the general lethality of combat for the pilots to GI Joe levels of "Nope, they're fine"? I actually thought the Newtype poo poo in at least the main-line show worked out, both in terms of having a core idea that was mostly used well (a brain mutation/latent ability that basically increases spatial awareness and tele-empathic sensitivity) and a strong symbol (a wonderful power for empathy and interpersonal connection which was used in large part to drive laser war machines of various kinds). They even mass produce Newtype pilots! Or try to, anyway.
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Oct 15, 2016 12:06
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Doresh posted:Didn't the non-UC Gundams tone down the general lethality of combat for the pilots to GI Joe levels of "Nope, they're fine"? For UC, the lethality is superhigh. There's people getting killed by random bits of shrapnel in Zeta and Char's Counterattack, and I'm not talking bit characters or background, were talking main characters. F91 opens with a colony invasion where you see civilians getting crushed under collapsing structures, thrown against the wall and breaking every bone in their body by the air displacement of a beam saber switching on, falling off a guntank and getting run over (that's not actually seen, but it's heavily implied), and this...  ...and this is before the "Iron Mask" Ronah deploys his mobile buzzsaw drones to depopulate a colony. Victory is infamous, pretty much the peak of Tomino's "Kill 'em All Phase" with the Shrike Team being killed by the end of the series, as well as some particular brutal deaths. Turn A, which has a low body count, has a particular gruesome scene where someone begs to go back and rescue a friend from a burning mobile suit because they see their hands sticking out of partly-open hatch, when the main character responds that "I don't think those are anything but hands anymore." The non-Tomino UC stuff can get pretty harsh. It would probably be spoilers to go into detail regarding the deaths in 0080 but someone ends up getting turned into hamburger by the end of it. 08th MS Team tends to be fairly light-hearted until midway when some Zeon stragglers from Odessa enter Kiki's village and things go downhill quick and the series turns pretty serious. 0083 is fairly super-serious, casualties pretty consistent throughout the show.
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Oct 15, 2016 13:25
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Man, Gundam is like the anti-Disney. The grimdarkest place on Earth.
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Oct 15, 2016 13:41
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Speaking of Gundam someone should cover Jovian Chronicles one of these days. It's the Gundam-est rpg I've read.
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Oct 15, 2016 15:47
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MonsieurChoc posted:Speaking of Gundam someone should cover Jovian Chronicles one of these days. It's the Gundam-est rpg I've read. I did. One of my earlier ones. I'm still embarrassed that I failed to properly highlight how ridiculous the distances are in this hardish sci-fi setting. The Jovians have a space train that goes through their entire territory and takes like eight years for the whole trip. How is anyone supposed to defend that? Doresh fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Oct 15, 2016 |
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Oct 15, 2016 16:44
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Kavak posted:The novelization also ends with Amuro being killed by a random Zaku with a bazooka. No glorious sacrifice, no dying speech, his luck just runs out and he's gone. Not really. At his funeral, he talks to his Saya with his Newtype powers and says he'll be around for her and his child anytime they need him. Getting to live on as a force ghost seems pretty loving lucky
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Oct 15, 2016 17:40
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Victory gundam's crew consists almost entirely of women, children, and war orphans. And they go through pilots like candy. 00 was Good, it's second season wasn't AS good but it was still watchable. It's movie was absolutely batshit bonkers.
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Oct 15, 2016 17:43
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NutritiousSnack posted:Not really. At his funeral, he talks to his Saya with his Newtype powers and says he'll be around for her and his child anytime they need him. Getting to live on as a force ghost seems pretty loving lucky Holy Crap. Is there some kind of Phantom Gundam, or Ghost Gundam, or any Gundam piloted by force ghosts?!
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Oct 15, 2016 18:05
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No but the Zeta and Double Zeta basically consume stray newtype ghosts as fuel.
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Oct 15, 2016 18:34
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Strange Matter posted:No but the Zeta and Double Zeta basically consume stray newtype ghosts as fuel. Gundam 40k.
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Oct 15, 2016 18:53
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Doresh posted:Gundam 40k. In the grim darkness of the future there is only anime.
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Oct 15, 2016 19:14
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Doresh posted:Gundam 40k. Please no. Especially not with the direction some of the non-Original-Creator Gundam stuff made. We don't need an Imperial Japan apologist like the Unicorn author to get together with the weirdo neo-nazis (aside from Fantasy Flight, they did great work mostly) writing 40k these days. It would be an Axis of Apologism we'd never survive.
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Oct 15, 2016 19:16
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Unicorn had some amazing mech design and an absolutely moronic "Twist" that made the plot even worse.
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Oct 15, 2016 19:32
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Night10194 posted:Please no. Especially not with the direction some of the non-Original-Creator Gundam stuff made. We don't need an Imperial Japan apologist like the Unicorn author to get together with the weirdo neo-nazis (aside from Fantasy Flight, they did great work mostly) writing 40k these days. Why go for Unicorn if there is even the slightest chance that you might get a Tequila Gundam faction?
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Oct 15, 2016 19:33
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 Godlike, Chapter V, Part V The last update ended with the Declaration by the United Nations, uniting the free world against the Axis...and with the Paukenschlag Plot, a failed attempt by a Nazi Talent to assassinate the assembled world leaders. Emil “the Shade” Broaden was buried with great honours, and a plaque at the west gate of the White House still commemorates his sacrifice. Curiously, Secret Service agents still witness silent “ghost explosions” repeating every year on the anniversary of his death. It’s their policy to make sure the President is always elsewhere that day, just in case. The foiling of the Paukenschlag Plot highlights a crucial change in the way Talent powers were used in the war: Soon after, even useless “Dud” Talents became valuable for their basic ability to spot other Talents, usually as bodyguard detail for VIPs. Wasserfallwasn’t ignorant of the nature of Doppelganger’s powers (which were always active and thus always visible to Talents), but their intelligence told them that few Allied Talents would be present. As the world population of Talents increased, so did Talent-related security. 1/2/1942, Japan takes Manila: General Homma’s forces secured the capital city of the Philippines, despite continued resistance from within the city and surrounding area. Anguis killed 64 Japanese troops and destroyed 3 tanks during his retreat. 1/3/1942, Wavell Holds the Line: Churchill ordered General Wavell to hold the Malay line in Southeast Asia at all costs to halt the Japanese advance, and assigned the powerful teleporter Jot to Wavell’s command to maintain lines of communication with Washington and London. Nonetheless, by the end of the month, the Empire of Japan had expanded significantly as their forces prepared to enter Burma. 9/10/1942, Saratoga Torpedoed: A Japanese submarine attacked the aircraft carrier Saratoga, killing 5 and causing extensive damage. One crew member, Walter “Ironclad” Kelly, manifested a Talent which protected him from the explosion and made him harder than any medal. He was immediately reassigned to Section 2. The Saratoga required 5 months of repairs. 1/20/1942, the Wannsee Conference: Göring, Himmler, and Eichmann convened to decide the “final solution” to the “Jewish problem” in Nazi-controlled Europe. Though they had already carried out mass slaughters of “undesirables,” Hitler considered their current policies unorganized and inefficient. So at his orders, the Nazi leaders agreed on a plan for systematic genocide. The Nazis used the notes of the late Reinhard Heydrich to adopt a system using gas chambers to kill large numbers of people at once, using cyanide-based gas. Prisoners deemed “inferior” or “unworthy of life”--including Jews, Roma, Slavic peoples, and the disabled--were to be gathered up, sorted according to their ability to work, and either immediately killed or forced to work themselves to death. In the end, these massacres would claim at least 5,800,000 lives. The subtext of the Wannsee Conference was how to deal with Talent manifestations among those deemed untermensch, a topic still deemed verboten by Hitler himself. Göring considered them “wayward Aryans” who might be reeducated and used for the war effort; Himmler rationalized their existence as “throwbacks to the time of race mingling and mongrelism” and wanted them eliminated. Eichmann only cared about dealing with the sheer scope of the plan to imprison and murder millions. No firm policy was reached; for the time being, they were treated like any other member of their ethnic group. 1/21/1942, German Counter-Attack in Libya: Rommel’s forces, led by Übermenschen, attacked the British line near Benghazi. However, the clever Rommel was merely using his Talent forces as a distraction while his main force went in a different direction. Overconfident in their powers and importance to the Heer, three were captured when their offensive line folded. 1/22/1942, the Evacuation of Leningrad: After all rail lines were bombed out and supplies dwindled, 440,000 Russian citizens were evacuated from Leningrad in 50 days. The first five (sane) Soviet Talents to publicly reveal themselves assisted in the evacuation. 1/26/1942, Section Two Launches Propaganda: Section Two sent a report to Roosevelt indicating a stunning 70 American Talents discovered in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack and the discovery of the Indestructible Man. Quickly grasping the psychological aspect of the Talent phenomenon, they recommended publicizing inflated numbers, which they believed would actually increase new Talent manifestations. The same day, the first ship carrying American troops to Britain arrived after a dangerous trans-Atlantic journey. The Indestructible Man was onboard. Popular in Britain, he embarked on a three-week public relations tour that included many demonstrations of his powers and the release of books, pamphlets, and other media. quote:The Indestructible Man 1/27/1942, Zyklon B and C: At the Auschwitz-Berkenau concentration camp, Nazis killed over 4,000 Jews in early tests of Zyklon-B gas. (Carbon dioxide had been deemed “too inefficient.”) However, during one test, a Jewish boy manifested Talent powers, killing Rudolph Höss (the creator of Zyklon-B) and 5 SS men before being killed himself. Within two months, Nazi scientists developed Zyklon-C under orders from Himmler. This version, released several minutes after the initial use of Zyklon B, included a blinding agent and secondary poison to kill any survivors. 1/28/1942, Rommel Takes Benghazi: With a series of bold maneuvers and clever feints, Rommel pushed and scattered the British Eighth Army. They pulled back to the Gazala line, giving him access to Benghazi. Having secured the capital, but lacking fuel and supplies, 2/1/1942, the Reign of Quisling: Hitler appointed collaborator Vidkun Quisling the prime minister of occupied Norway. But the next morning, he was found dead, the victim of an apparent Talent assassination. His skin was hard as stone; his body fluids had congealed. SS Obergruppenführer Franz Jeckeln was swiftly appointed to replace him. The assassination was a heavy blow to the growing pro-Nazi sentiment in Norway, but Quisling himself commanded little respect, and there was no real effort was spared to investigate Quisling’s death. (It was not until 1954 that the truth of Quisling’s death came out due to a leak from British intelligence. Operation Tumult, carried out by the BSOE, saw Aesgir use his powers to transport a six-man team into occupied Norway. Local resistance fighters snuck them into the PM’s mansion, where the British Talent Quagmire killed Quisling with his power to solidify liquids. There was little negative reaction to the news.) 2/11/1942, the Channel Dash: The Germans launched a force of 4 cruisers through the English Channel into the North Sea. The RAF and Royal Navy sent dozens of aircraft to sink them, but the attack was poorly organized and over 50 craft were lost. Although two of the ships were heavily damaged by mines, it was still seen as a humiliating defeat for the British in their home territory. 2/13/1942, the last Sea Lion Conference: Despite fervent lobbying from Der Flieger, Hitler decided to abandon Operation Sea Lion, the plan to invade Britain across the Channel, in favour of his growing preoccupation with the Eastern front. Der Flieger was transferred to the French coast, a clear sign of Hitler’s disfavour. 2/18/1942, the Japanese Invasion of Singapore: Japanese forces chased British forces across the country and soon landed two Marine divisions, cutting the Commonwealth forces in half. The Japanese lost fewer than 10,000 men while the British lost more than 138,000--many from disease and impure water. In the Battle of the Sittang Bridge, the British managed to destroy the bridge to Rangoon, but suffered heavy losses. Both armies regrouped, the British badly demoralized. Fourteen new Allied Talents manifested during the fighting, but 10 were captured and killed. 2 escaped into the wild, leaving only 2 who escaped back to Australia. 2/19/1942, Eisenhower Leads War Plans Division: General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed the head of the Army’s General War Plans Division. He immediately resolved to strengthen American presence in Britain and plan Operation Sledgehammer, a cross-Channel invasion of Europe. He also called for intelligence estimates on the tactical use of Talents. The “Eisenhower Plan” would become the policy for the use of Talents in the Army. 2/19/1942, the Bombing of Port Darwin: An attack on the Australian port city of Darwin from a Japanese aircraft carrier killed 172 and disabled 16 ships at harbor. The Australian public was shocked, anticipating a full invasion of Australia. Churchill soon sent 67 British Talents to Australia to allay their fears. 2/27/1942, Engagement at the Java Sea: A pitched naval battle between American and Japanese forces resulted in a defeat for the Allies, who lost five cruisers, five destroyers, and hundreds of sailors including Rear Admiral Karel Doorman. 2/28/1942, Radar Station at Bruneval: A group of 16 British Commando paratroopers, including Cien and Cormorant , attacked a German radar position at Bruneval near Le Havre. The two Talents occupied the Germans while the commandos disassembled their radar transmitter and rigged explosives to their emplacements. The group escaped in captured boats, and research on the inferior German radar technology led to methods for effective countermeasures. 3/7/1942, Disaster in Southeast Asia: The Allied situation across Southeast Asia grew ever more dire. General Sir Harold Alexander’s forces abandoned Rangoon. Although it was the only British entry point into Burma, they realized they could not hold it. They redrew the line at the Salween River and continued to be pushed back. U.S. General Joe Stilwell prepared for the worst as he readied his forces to defend the vital Burma Road. The AVG Flying Tigers sent one wing to assist him, led by America’s second Talent, Robert “FSAM” Young. Dutch Allied forces in the Dutch East Indies were forced to surrender to the Japanese. Unluckily, many troops had been transferred to Malaya and Java, and those left behind were bereft of supplies. General Douglas MacArthur reluctantly surrendered command of the badly demoralized forces in the Philippines, under direct orders from Roosevelt. Uttering the famous line “I shall return!” he took command of Allied forces in Australia. 3/12/1942, Roosevelt forms TOC: President Roosevelt formed the Talent Operations Command. Composed of high-ranking members of all branches, and reporting only to the President and Joint Chiefs of Staff, the TOC used voting committees to decide where Talent soldiers would be assigned. Talents were not allowed to choose their branch of service. In less than two weeks, the first TOG (Talent Operations Group) began training at Achnacarry British Commando School in Scotland. Nine-man TOGs were used as scouts and shock troops, and TOG 1 included the Indestructible Man himself. The Achnacarry school would graduate 500 commandos within a year’s time. 3/28/1942, Failure at St. Nazaire: A British commando operation to destroy the dry-dock at St. Nazaire failed, in large part due to a defending force of 65 German parahumans. Der Auge (“the Eye”) foresaw the attack and hastily (and illegally) gathered his fellow Übermenschen. Many of his comrades defied orders to join him, but they knew Der Auge’s visions were rarely wrong. Out of 611 Allied troops, over 400 were killed and many of the rest were captured. It was a severe blow to British morale. (Der Auge’s defense of St. Nazaire was the first large-scale use of precognition in warfare--and it would remain one of very few. In a magazine interview, American Talent Lt. Andrew “Lucky” O’Donnell likened precognition to navigating a tightrope in the dark--hard to grasp, and you can only follow where it leads or take a blind leap from it. And if you talk about the rope, it changes position and doesn’t lead where it once did. Most successful uses of precognition were small-scale tactical actions on the battlefield. Strategists and scientists quickly learned that it was sharply limited in its use for large-scale intelligence.) 4/9/1942, the Last Days of Bataan: General Homma’s army pushed the remainder of MacArthur’s forces back to the peninsula. Commanding General Jonathan Wainright and 2,000 men fled to Corregidor Island, leaving behind almost 100,000 to be captured by the Japanese. Few would live to see the end of the war. 4/10/1942, Japanese Offensive in Burma: Lt. General Iida pushed the British further north, despite reinforcements from Chinese and American forces. Thousands of Allied troops died of disease, thirst, and starvation. The Japanese captured the valuable Yenangyaung oilfields. If they could capture the Burma Road, it would be their entry point into India. 4/18/1942, the Doolittle Raid: Lt. James Doolittle led 26 B-25 bombers in a daylight raid on Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya, and Yokohoma. The attack inflicted minimal damage, and only 64 out of 130 men returned safely to China. But the successful attack on the Japanese home islands had a huge impact on Japanese and American morale.  4/19/1942, Japanese Gain First Talent: In a rough squall, a Japanese pilot lost control of his plane and crashed into the deck of the aircraft carrier Shoho. Instead of dying, Lt. Hoshi Katamura was teleported to his quarters elsewhere on the craft. Hoshi (“Star”) was Japan’s first Talent. Unit 731, the Japanese biological weapons division, took him back to Tokyo for study. His existence would remain a closely-guarded military secret for ears. quote:Hoshi (“Star”) 4/24/1942, Bombing of Exeter: In retaliation for the RAF bombing of Lübeck, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to attack all significant British cities listed in the Baedeker Guides. The bombing raid on the city of Exeter inflicted severe damage. 4/29/1942, Burma Road Cut: Japanese forces seized Lashio, effectively cutting off the Burma Road. (Chinese Nationalists were already almost completely dependent on airdrops for supplies.) Allied forces were put to flight for the Indian and Chinese borders. The teleporter Jot returned to London to utter the famous words, “We’ve lost Burma, sir.” The Chinese 6th Army made for Yunnan province while Stilwell led a smaller force toward India. Thousands died in the disorganized forced march towards the borders, through some of the world’s most difficult terrain. The Japanese fortified their positions and failed to locate either force. But by May 20th, they had secured the Indian border, completing their conquest of Burma. 5/2/1942, Japanese Launch Coral Sea Force: The Japanese launched a large carrier task force in the Coral Sea, with aims of attacking the Solomon Islands, seizing Port Moresby on New Guinea, and forcing a decisive conflict that would end the U.S. presence in the Pacific. Unbeknownst to them, American cryptographers had deciphered the Japanese naval code. Admiral Charles Nimitz had plenty of time to withdraw from the Solomon Islands and prepare a counterattack. Under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher, aircraft carrier Task Force 17 deployed to sink the Japanese carriers. Although they only located several minesweepers, destroyers, and landing craft, they took out three sweepers, one destroyer, and several small craft and airplanes. 5/4/1942, the Last Boat from Corregidor: This island fortress was the last American position in the Philippines. It was a rallying point for the Allies, but a nightmare for the only 2,000 troops stationed there, living in tunnels and enduring thirst, starvation, and constant shelling. The Japanese invaded and took General Wainwright prisoner as the submarine Spearfish managed to escape to Australia with 13 nurses and 12 officers. 5/5/1942, British Invade Madagascar: The British invaded the Vichy French held nation of Madagascar to prevent them from assisting Japanese naval operations. The Vichy forces quickly surrendered, and the British SSO soon established the “First Long Range Special Reconnaissance Group,” a scouting force of 17 flying Talents, to direct anti-naval operations within a 1,000 mile sphere of influence. During the war they wrought havoc on Axis ships traveling off the tip of Africa. 5/7/1942, Battle of the Coral Sea: Japanese and American forces in the Coral Sea had circled one another, often without anything but radio contact. On this day, 19 American craft set off to find two Japanese aircraft carriers identified from a garbed Japanese broadcast. Instead, they found the light carrier Shoho and destroyed it in minutes. Commander Robert Dixon sent back the famous message “Scratch one flattop!” The Japanese retaliatory mission was a debacle. Bad weather forced them to jettison their bombs and return, only to be intercepted and picked off by Allied fighters. Later, a disoriented Japanese force tried to land on the American carrier Yorktown and several were shot down before the rest fled. The next day, Japanese planes located the American carriers. After a four-hour battle, the Yorktown was severely damaged and the Lexington was abandoned and destroyed. Bombing runs from the Yorktown inflicted minimal damage on the Japanese carrier Shokaku. Although the Japanese seemed the overall winners, their losses were too great. At the cost of one carrier and a few dozen aircraft, the Americans had thwarted any hopes for a Japanese invasion of Australia. 5/12/1942, Debacle at Kharkov: Soviet forces prepared their first offensive against German forces in the Ukraine. General Timoshenko’s 6th, 9th, and 57th armies pushed toward the valuable mining city of Kharkov to encircle and destroy the Germans. However, they were soon surrounded by an even larger Nazi forces. The Germans killed 70,000 Russians and took 200,000 prisoner. The victory opened the way for Hitler’s forces to attack the oil-rich Caucasus. 5/21/1942, Molotov Begs for Second Front: Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov (he of the Molotov-Ribentropp Pact) plead with PM Churchill and President Roosevelt for a second front in Europe, hoping to peel 40 German divisions away from the Russian front. But both leaders had agreed that an invasion of Europe would have to wait for 1943 or 1944 while they focused on Africa and the Suez Canal. 5/27/1942, the Desert Fox: Rommel launched a huge offensive in Libya, ignoring the Gazala line in favour of attacking Bir Hacheim. His attack on the town failed, and soon his forces were boxed in with their backs against a huge minefield. RuSHA SA sent an Überkommandogruppe to evacuate Rommel, but he had other ideas. He used the Übermenschen to scout the British forces and harry their poorly-planned attacks while his engineers cleared the mines. By June 1st his forces escaped through the minefield and attacked the British 150th Brigade. By June 19th, Bir Hacheim was in German hands and Rommel was attacking Tobruk. General Auchinleck was forced to pull his troops back to El Alamein. In a month, the Afrika Korps had gone from being nearly pinned down and destroyed to forcing the British to discard all their previous gains in North Africa. 6/1/1942, Soviet Lend-Lease Begins: The U.S. sent its first shipment of war materiel to the Soviet Union, comprising several hundred tons of weapons, equipment, and supplies. 6/5/1942, the Battle of Midway: The Japanese attacked the tiny American-held island of Midway for the third time, instigating one of the largest sea battles of all time. The Japanese goal was to capture Midway and the Aleutians, creating a perimeter to prevent anything like the Doolittle Raid from reoccurring. Again hoping to draw the U.S. into a decisive battle that would end their naval presence in the Pacific, Admiral Yamamoto sent a huge task force centered on 8 aircraft carriers. Fortunately, the Americans had once again deciphered Japanese codes well ahead of time, and the U.S. was well-prepared for the assault. Following a brief assault on the island, the Japanese torpedo planes unloaded their torpedoes after a long wait with no targets in range. But at that moment, Rear Admiral Fletcher sighted two Japanese carriers and sent 35 dive-bombers to attack. Within two hours they were joined by 70 planes from the Enterprise and Fletcher’s still-damaged Yorktown. The Allied force searched for the Japanese while they were still trying to refit and launch their own planes. Japanese Zeroes and AA guns picked American Devastator torpedo planes out of the air. But their sacrifice was not in vain, as they had brought the Zeroes to a low altitude, allowing the next wave of American fighters to come in flying high and bomb the Japanese carriers unopposed. The Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were overloaded with fully-fueled aircraft and explosives. Soon all three were ablaze. The Hiryu was also destroyed, but not before it launched enough torpedo bombers to finally destroy the Yorktown. Most of the crew was saved as the ship was abandoned. The Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, 2 destroyers, 250 planes, and 3,500 men. The battle was decisive, but not as Yamamoto had hoped. Midway was a turning point in the war against Japan.  6/7/1942, Japanese Invade Aleutian Islands: The Japanese landed a force on the Aleutians to secure their northern flank from attack. During the war about 10,000 troops were garrisoned on the island. 6/13/1942, Operation Pastorius: Four German agents landed at Long Island, burying their sabotage gear near Amagansett Bay. They headed for NYC, but were discovered by a Coastguardsman. Not wanting to leave a corpse behind, one of the agents, George Dasch, bribed the guardsman to “forget he ever saw them.” The guardsman accepted the bribe but immediately reported them to the FBI. The next day, Dasch himself called the FBI, attempting to surrender peacefully, but was dismissed as a crank caller. He eventually, uh, convinced them to arrest him, and informed on his fellow agents and the incoming second team. Eventually, all members of both teams were captured except for one, Werner Theil. The FBI cornered him in Bridgeport, Georgia, where Theil revealed his Talent abilities (of which even his fellow saboteurs were unaware). He killed 4 FBI agents and 2 local policemen before a sniper killed him. George Dasch and Ernest Burger (another cooperator) received 30 years and life imprisonment, respectively, while the other surviving German agents were sentenced to death. The second landing of an Übermensch in the U.S. had ended in dismal failure. 6/13/1942, Roosevelt Creates OSS: President Roosevelt established the Office of Strategic Services, under the direction of the Joint Chiefs and led by Brigadier-General William Donovan. Although Army Intelligence and J. Edgar Hoover lobbied against the creation of an espionage department, Donovan’s background gained him an ally in Roosevelt. Donovan had led the Office of the Coordinator of Information, traveling the world to gain intelligence on the fascist powers and their activities. He filled the OSS with the smartest (and often most egotistical) men he could find, following the BSOE’s example in planning operations attempting to accomplish great things while risking few men. After the Bridgeport standoff and the creation of the OSS, Hoover demanded Talents for the FBI. Telling the Joint Chiefs he would “not be held responsible” for Talent espionage on U.S. soil, the implied threat was that he would make the matter public if they forced his hand. In response, President Roosevelt assigned 12 Talents to the FBI on August 1st. “Hoover’s Dozen” were all “Dud” Talents: one could read books without opening them; another could float an inch off the ground, but only with his eyes closed. Furious, Hoover gave up. However, the Talent agents turned out to be very effective at detecting and countering enemy Talents in the U.S. and South America. 6/18/1942, America Betrays the Constitution: Under the War Relocation Authority, the military began detaining and imprisoning Japanese Americans on the west coast of the United States to prevent “insurgency, sabotage, and assistance to the enemy.” Despite the fact that not a single act of espionage was ever attributed to a Japanese American, about 120,000 men, women, and children were imprisoned in concentration camps under armed guard. Many had their property confiscated or were forced to sell it at great loss. A Japanese American citizen named Gordon Hirabayashi took the matter to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the WRA. An official apology for these cowardly actions would not come for more than 50 years. Despite their poor treatment, over 18,500 Japanese Americans would volunteer for combat when a series of policy changes allowed for it in February 1943. The segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team would become the most highly-decorated unit in U.S. history relative to its size and length of service. The 442nd also had the highest percentage of Talent manifestations of any unit in the war--almost every third member developed a Talent, and by the end of the war almost every surviving member was a Talent. (Due to segregation, the TOC did not reassign them.) Section 2 analysts pointed out that it was almost as if the 442nd was manifesting Talents because the population of Japan was not. 6/21/1942, Rommel Takes Tobruk: Rommel’s forces secured Tobruk, capturing more than 20,000 Commonwealth troops and earning the wily commander a promotion to Generalfeldmarschall. During the attack, however, one Australian manifested a Talent which allowed he and 70 others to escape to Egypt. “Misfire” became Australia’s first Talent. quote:Misfire 6/29/1942, Mussolini Prepares for Victory: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini flew into Derna, Libya, in anticipation of leading an Axis victory parade through Cairo. However, he found that Rommel’s lines were thinly spread and ill-supplied, and the British had fortified themselves for a last stand at El Alamein. Disappointed, he returned to Italy. 7/13/1942, Dead Man’s Hand: In occupied Paris, the mutilated bodies of 4 SS officers were found in a private room at the Petit Casino club. All had been stabbed to death, with occult symbols carved into their faces. The “dead man’s hand” was laid out on the table. Although official policy still denied the existence of non-German parahumans, anti-Talent measures at various levels of the German military had been going on since the summer of 1941. Later that year, the Gestapo set a trap for L’Invocateur, sending several Übermenschen to parade around Paris playing the part of obnoxious (but ordinary) SS officers. When three of them turned up dead, the Gestapo abandoned their plan. When asked in a postwar interview how he had done it, L’Invocateur quipped “The invisibility is luck. My true Talent is with the knife.” 7/13/1942, Hitler Splits His Forces: Personally commanding the Eastern Front, Hitler called for a simultaneous push on Stalingrad and the oil-rich fields of the Caucasus. The dual offensive was far beyond the capabilities of the Heer, and everyone but Hitler could see that the gap between the Armies would be quickly exploited. Even worse, Hitler reassigned the 4th Panzer Army to the southern force, slowing their advance as they regrouped. Hitler realized his mistake and countermanded the order, but this only robbed the offensive of its momentum completely, giving the Soviets time to muster a large defense force. 7/22/1942, the Clearing of the Warsaw Ghetto: Under Himmler’s orders, 300,000 Jews were transported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp, where they were massacred by gassing or starvation.  Next time on Godlike: Guadalcanal, Operation Torch, Stalingrad. Lots of war stuff. Not to mention the world’s first Hyperbrain, the Golem of the Ghetto, and Stalin’s beauty treatments. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Mar 3, 2017 |
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Oct 15, 2016 20:28
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