The Signal, A World War 1 Bunkercrawl for Mothership RPG (Part 1)
Hey, long time no see. I recently had the pleasure of experiencing Amnesia The Bunker, a survival horror game set in the confines of a trench system trying to escape while a horrific creature hunts you down. With limited resources and only a single unbeatable enemy the game challenges the player to find creative solutions to manage light, sound, and even ammunition to ensure they can secure a method to escape. I had an incredible time with it and the layout and design of the experience set my brain on fire in a way I hadn’t had since playing Signalis last year. Enter The Signal. Below is a rough draft of the first level of the complex statted crudely for Mothership though I’ve used a lot of variations during my playtest leaning on the current stripped down interpretation given by Cloud Empress. Use what’s comfortable for you. The setting is during the waning years of the Great War on the Western Front in a conflict that seems without end in eastern France.
With the Signal I’ve also decided to experiment with the Underclock in lieu of the Overloaded Encounter Die which has actually gone pretty well. This post may be updated as things change or I’ll simply make new ones if the changes are too large or complex. The map was made in Miro, sorry in advance, but my art skills are very limited. If anything here does something for you I’m here or on twitter until that dies too. Also, this is essentially a rough draft of a rough draft so apologies for any error in spelling or coherence. Until next time. The Center Holds.
The Signal, A World War 1 Bunkercrawl for Mothership RPG
A hidden bunker on the periphery of the Front Bastion Renou is protected by a maze of trenches twisted together by concertina wire and sap tunnels made by the adversary during the waning days of this paths usefulness. The bunker was built within stone channels cut in antiquity to allow fresh water from the nearby river to cross to the City beyond. When the City fell to aerial bombardment and the reservoir was poisoned by sabotage the surviving soldiers who once defended Renou moved with the Front. A small contingent was left behind to support intelligence operations from behind the line but the last anyone had heard they too fell silent. That was until a month ago. A radio signal has been heard on all bands and at all hours of the day calling for help. It repeats; Their officers are dead, and the soldiers carry no flag now but the flag of whoever rescues them. The bunker was sealed by sabotage and the denizens are starving with no way out. They offer the mounds of intelligence gathered by the network and the promise of a secret weapon that can turn the tide of the war. A pipe dream. Or more likely, a trap.
You Are;
Partizans: A group of rebels, freedom fighters, or even just bands of survivors attempting to keep themselves and their community safe in the wake of this terrible cataclysm. Willing to do what ever it takes to keep their friends and family away from the horrors they encounter every day.
The Signal bodes badly for the survivors of the nearby village. If the soldiers return to this part of the old front then they will be right back in the line of fire. Something must be done. It must be silenced and any reason for the army to come back here must be buried along with it.
The Group Gains:
- Extra Rations (1 Per Squadmate)
- Vulpe, an old wolfhound (I:40 C:50 Bite 1d10 Holds victim in place.
Mercenaries: Hired guns and former soldiers who have tired of the drudgery of drill and the destitute wages of the conflicts armies. Believes fighting is good business. Honor is for the dead and the stupid.
Your company has been hired to clear out the bunker of traitors as their mutiny has become a liability for the Entente. They are to be extricated from the complex by any means necessary and the their commander brought back in chains to answer for his crimes if possible. From what you are told they should have run out of food and water a month ago without resupply and the constant attacks would have worn down their morale to nothing. Should be a cakewalk. You are to offer any deserter amnesty.
- A stack of pardons to be given to any surviving soldiers.
- A machine gun (Causes 5d10 damage, can suppress targets in cover. Takes 1 turn to setup. Requires two crew members to fire. Shots 4. )
Soldiers: Heroes. Or at least that’s what they put in the papers. Really a bunch of draftees and young men promised the world and a safe journey by Christmas. But that was years ago. Command wants the bunker seized back from the Adversary seeing as the broadcast is drawing attention away from the front line. Its become a liability to the war effort and must be destroyed. However, before it can be eliminated, the networks intelligence must be returned to HQ at any cost lest it fall into the wrong hands. Godspeed.
- Handheld radios (Malfunctions frequently. Can call reinforcements that will arrive in 1d4 days.)
- One explosive satchel charge per squadmate along with a detonator and 50ft of det cord. (Thrown, causes 1d5 wounds, destroys even the most durable structures. Must be set and attached to a detonator.)
Level 1: The Assault Trench
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The Trenches:
Each trench is approximately 8 feet deep and six feet wide containing a firing step, ladders, and small dugouts known as bolt holes. The bolt holes can be searched for useful supplies and personal effects but takes time.
Traversing Concertina Wire
Moving through concertina wire is incredibly dangerous not only for the razor sharp barbs ready to flense your skin from your flesh but as you move through the wire you are utterly defenseless. Safely crossing concertina wire requires a successful save defined by your approach. If you want to move quickly through the wire you can choose to take damage which grants you Advantage on the save. Failed saves moving through concertina wire cause 2d10+ damage and cause you to get stuck.
Wire Cutters allow you to traverse concertina wire without danger as long as you have time to cut through.
High explosive ordinance can destroy concertina wire utterly.
E: The Breach
A prototype tank successfully crashed through the outer trenchworks only to find itself stuck between a nest of concertina wire and a sinkhole made by an artillery strike. Now, the metal giant is a silent husk hanging precariously over the crater that has since been flooded by rainwater. It’s armor now useful only as a bridge to those who dare make another assault. Below, bodies bob listlessly in the fetid water reaching upwards for help that never came.
- Climbing over the tank can be done safely one at a time but if more than two people try climbing over at once there is a 1-in-6 chance it collapses into the sinkhole. +1 for every additional person.
- The bottom of the sinkhole is a deep well filled with corpses and concertina wire. Falling into the sinkhole immediately gets you caught in the wire. Failed saves to escape causes bleeding while trying not to drown.
- Fording the gap allows access into the Assault Trench (West).
Discarded helmets, bullet casings, and several fallen comrades lie still in the mud. The remnants of so many failed assaults. From here, footprints rush in every direction taking the sopping earth with them.
- The bolt holes here are damaged and their contents are spilled out along the floor. Dis Adv to scavenge anything useful.
- NORTH-WEST: Smell of burned corpses and fragments of broken metal.
- EAST: The crackling of static can be heard along this trench.
WT. Western Tunnel
- Winding and low. Need to crouch down to remain in cover else be exposed to No Man’s Land. Walking without crouching causes an errant shot from a faraway battle to strike harmlessly behind the offender. The next shot strikes the artillery shell.
- An unexploded artillery shell is right in the center. If shot or set off purposely deals 1d4 wounds to anyone Close.
- NORTH: Flapping tarps in the entrance to the next trench line painted with a faded red cross. (3. Field Hospital.)
- NORTH-EAST: Dugout tunnel leading to blocked metal door. Sounds of a transponder beeping and a whispering operator. (6. Wrecked Command Center.)
- Nest of concertina wire spilled into trench from the outer perimeter bombardment blocking access.
- A small table is knocked over into the mud rendering most of the intel noted down here, useless.
- Corpse of a soldier caught in the wire carrying a messenger bag. Inside is an envelope containing top secret orders and a small piece of paper with the code for the medical safe. 3 Left, 6 Right, 3 Left.
- Top Secret Orders: Valuable if sold. Requires a special device to remove the seal without causing the paper to combust in a flash of smoke.
A cocktail of heady chemical musk mixed with old death and stale sweat. A dozen stretchers are laid in two neat rows covered in stained green blankets. The half light of the battlefield peaks out from a nearby dugout cloaked by a tarp.
- There are four bodies occupying their respective beds that can be searched for dog tags and an item from the Bolthole table.
- One of the occupied beds is actually a living man, Sergeant Thompson, he is nursing a bullet wound from the Sniper in the pillbox. He came here with a squad to reach the bunker but they were quickly separated and picked off one by one. He will reveal himself if called out and outgunned, otherwise, will remain underneath the covers. Has an empty gun and a combat knife that he will use to defend himself if necessary. Will help the squad reach the bunker if they agree to help him find medicine for his infection.
- The medical cabinet has been looted already and is empty except for a safe under the doctor’s desk. Obvious signs of tampering and even dents caused by firearms but no damage. Contains three vials of morphine, a gold bar, a tincture of laudanum, and a loaded revolver.
Mass Grave
Rows of makeshift graves covered loose with dirt and grave markers of stone. A soldier, not yet buried, lies in an open casket.
- A wooden casket near an open pit still holds a corpse of a fallen soldier. A crow is perched atop him nipping at his face and eyes. He’s already been looted through by other scavengers. If the soldier is buried by the squad the first time the Stalker would kill one of them it instead flees before striking the killing blow.
- The graves here can be looted for Bolt Hole scavenging supplies. A squaddie who loots a grave is always targeted first by traps, rats, and other perils. If the whole squad participates the first encounter underground is always The Stalker.
The storage dugout is a mess of haphazardly tossed ammo cans and what remains of several large wooden crates mostly ruined by water damage.
- Dozens of discarded ammo cans filled with spent brass. Some usable ammo can be found if time is taken to scavenge through it.
- A metal crate secured by a padlock marked as high explosive. Inside, are six artillery shells. Very heavy.
Wrecked Command Center
- Water damaged old maps are left to rot on a large wooden table. A knife is stabbed into the location of Bastion Renou. The pillbox is marked as well as the Sap Trench as access to the bunker’s approach. The middle tunnel is marked as dangerous.
- Several officers hung on ropes pinned with dozens of medals and ribbons as though they were ready for a parade. Overturned chairs beneath them. Words dabbed on the wall in gasoline. “THE CENTER HOLDS”
- Four large crates have been stacked haphazardly around a barrel. Four Soldiers, Clement, Lancel, Voight, and Collins nurse a fire set in a barrel using the tables of the canteen as kindling. Lancel and Vaughn are playing poker while Clement is preparing a rat on a skewer with some scavenged spices. These four men are wanted as deserters and have a high price on their head for killing a superior officer. They intend to lay low here amidst the signal before absconding to the North Country away from the war. If their identities and bounty are discovered will fight like the devils they are thought to be. They do not trust mercenaries. Collins is on watch but would kill for a cigarette.
- The food here that remains is far too water damaged and old to be of use though the cabinets can be scavenged like a Bolt Hole.
- Rows of cots or sometimes nothing more than a pile of blankets used as sleeping quarters by the former occupants. Smells of onions and horseradish.
- Several old rifles are left here unloaded. If used, will break on the first damage roll of 1.
- A soldier is laid up in a cot wearing a gas mask and sleeping clothes. His throat is cut leaving the mask bloody but usable.
- The dugout is secured by a heavy steel door fitted with a steel padlock.
- Telegraph recording can be heard inside. A lone operator, warped by the signal, is attempting to communicate along the severed line and back to the bunker. He is lost and will defend the equipment to the death. Repeats back series of numbers which if deciphered spell SPREAD THE SIGNAL. Has a revolver and brass knuckledusters. If the repeater is damaged, kills himself. Violently. If lines are reconnected will spread the signal from here.
Flooded Trench
- Knee-deep water. Filled with rats.
- Inaccessible by way of a hastily erected dike threatening to overflow with excrement and rain water.
- If destroyed, floods the Assault Trench.
- A metal tool shed has been left here locked by a thick chain. Inside, are Bolt Cutters.
- A workman’s table and tools still remain here. A working hand held radio is on the table
- The radio is tuned to the distress signal and makes a loud jarring shriek if turned on without adjustment.
- Smoldering remains of furniture, documents, and bodies.
- A pack of ratter dogs gone hunts the mounds for prey. Hides amongst the refuse if confronted. Bites if cornered. Starving.
- Sandbags surround a massive sinkhole opened after the detonation of the neighboring sap tunnel.
- A squad of five scouts wait in ambush for someone to try and cross the sandbag barrier to coerce them to find a way into the bunker.
- Inside the sinkhole hides an access to the bunker by way of a reservoir tunnel 50 feet down. Flooded with water.
- A rubble strewn causeway. Underneath the earth and debris a voice can be heard trapped. Can be excavated with shovels. Delilah’s handler, Jack is wounded but if saved will offer a satchel charge to his saviors. If pressed or given medical treatment will also offer knowledge of the trapped artillery nest and the location of Bolt Cutters (Tool Shed). Will resist entering the bunker even under pain of death.
- A wasteland riddled with flooded sinkholes that is exposed from the cover of the trench.
- At the far end towards the bunker entrance a field of landmines. Stepping on a mine does not immediately engage it. Stepping off does unless sufficient weight is used to re-engage the trigger
- An empty machine gun nest watches over the bunker doors.
- The bunker doors are made of thick steel and cannot be forced by hand.
- Hammering can be heard from the other side from a group of soldiers. They’ll yell for help and confirm the distress signal. Will offer anything for help in deciphering the code to unlock the main doors. If the doors are opened in this way will attempt to lead the squad down to the lowest levels where they can be exposed to The Signal.
- A machine gun nest is propped up facing the sap tunnel. A tripwire in the tunnel causes it to unload the rest of its ammunition then expire. Can be scavenged.
- Corporal Fletcher, a survivor from Thomas’ squad, hides here terrified of the Sniper. Swears revenge.
- The entire nest is shrouded in a fog of lethal yellow colored gas.
- Contains a functional artillery piece but is not loaded. If fired, powerful enough to obliterate walls, wire, and anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the blast.
- Built on a mound of earth about 30 feet above the trench line. Solid concrete with several slits for firing out of. A broken machine gun rests on a mount in the central opening with a straw scarecrow wearing an enemy uniform attached to it.
- Gunter The Sniper, asked to observe and report back on the area. Has had interference on his comms and his feared the worst. Wants to abscond with the top secret intel found in the lower bunker but has run into numerous enemy patrols since. Has let some escape but picks off the weak or the foolish without hesitation. Inside, is a crate of spare ammunition, a makeshift cot, and a working radio.
- Contains a ladder leading down into the Bunker (Rm. ???)
Monsters
SWARM OF RATS
I: 30 C: 35
Wounds: 10 (1)
Infected Fangs: 1d10 Body Save or gain an Infected Wound.
Infected Wound: Cannot regain Hit Points with rest. If left untreated, reduces maximum Hit Points by 1d6 every day. Can be cured with medicine.
SOLDIERS
I: 40 C: 55
Wounds: 15 (3)
Infantry Rifle 3d10
50% chance they have a Frag Grenade.
RATTER DOGS
I: 60 C:30
Wounds: 20 (2)
Bite: 2d10.
Tackle: 1d10. Body Save or knocked down.
GUNTER THE SNIPER
I: 60 C: 65
Wounds: 30 (3)
Scoped Rifle 4d10.
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