[OOC] Armia Krajowa - WW2 Polish Resistance RP

[DancingEagle]

(NEW APPLICANTS MAY JOIN)

On September 27th, as a last resort, Polish general Juliusz Rómmel signed all documents to approve the foundation of a civilian resistance group called Służba Zwycięstwu Polski (SZP - Service for Poland's Victory). Warsaw, however, was captured a day later after massive bombings by the Nazis, and the SZP went underground.

Poland officially surrendered on October 6th. It was left naked, in shambles, and divided between the Soviets and the Nazis. The SZP would, slowly but surely, evolve into the Armia Krajowa - The Home Army, providing the allies valuable intel, sabotaging Nazi transports, raiding weapon depots, aiding the Red Army, and, on 1944, conduct the Warsaw Uprising, a one month long massive riot, against the Nazis, which would dissolve the Armia Krajowa and render the city of Warsaw inhabitable.

This RP is focused on the main Polish resistance movement, the Armia Krajowa (AK), from its creation in '39 as the SZP to its dissolve in '44-'45. Players will take the role of historical or custom members of the resistance in various jobs, all to drive the oppressors off their land.
This RP will initially be historically accurate, but this RP adapts to player choice, and may shape Poland differently. The tone will also be driven by player actions: from a pitch black comedy to a heavy, almost historically accurate simulation of What If. While it is not necessary to learn about the resistance, its acts and the period, it helps to immerse yourself and provides a more believable RP experience.

Rules Regarding Shooting At Enemies

Firing at an enemy or sabotaging transports won't resolve immediately - The GM will roll a dice roll for firing. Your chance to hit will change according to the number of shots you've fired, weather, wounds and imminent danger. Sabotage will succeed the more you plan for it and the more trained you are at combat.

Character Sheet Thread

Character Sheet

Name:
Age:
Country of Origin:
Religion:
Division: (List Below)
Appearance: (an image and/or a written description)
Personality:
Flaw: (No one's perfect - this field is for a personality flaw your PC has)

Available Divisions

Nothing's written in stone, and you may interpret and play with these definitions as you like.

Organization: Managing personnel, conserving peace within the group, law and order, religious and administrative matters.

Intel and Counter-Intel: Managing intelligence to the allies and specific personnel, and keeping communications safe from the public eye.

Operations: Coordinating and planning operations, sabotages and raids.

Logistics: Scavenging and managing equipment, including making deals and trading for weapons and ammo.

Comms: In and out communication (mainly with Western Allies), including coordinating attacks and air drops.

Kedyw: Polish for Special Ops. The executive branch of the AK. Specializes in combat, conducting sabotages, and armed action against the Nazis.

Misc: Individuals working for the uprising without an official title listed above, e.g. Scouts and Medics. List your custom job on the character sheet if you wish to pick this "division".

Current Crew

Organization:

Intel and Counter-Intel:

Operations:
Karol Zabek
Pawel Wojtkiewicz
Janusz Wojtkewicz

Logistics:
Schmuel Goldfarb

Comms:
Stanley "Stosh" Kilbowich

Kedyw:
Samuel Hammett

Misc:
Scout: Magda Wojtkiewicz

[The New Yorker]

So, I'm thinking about a pre-SOE British counter intelligence agent. He could have been sent into Poland when things first started getting hot in order to meet with Jan Gorski, bring back info on the state of things to the crown. After the invasion they got separated, Jan fled to France to start the silent unseen, while my British agent is left behind with the Polish underground. Unable to escape passed the nazis he joins up with someone suggested to him by Jan, eventually leading him to the SZP or ZWZ. This is a really bareass skeleton of an idea here. Just throwing it out to see if it gets shot down. I understand if it's a little too far fetched.

[DancingEagle]

The New Yorker said
So, I'm thinking about a pre-SOE British counter intelligence agent. He could have been sent into Poland when things first started getting hot in order to meet with Jan Gorski, bring back info on the state of things to the crown. After the invasion they got separated, Jan fled to France to start the silent unseen, while my British agent is left behind with the Polish underground. Unable to escape passed the nazis he joins up with someone suggested to him by Jan, eventually leading him to the SZP or ZWZ. This is a really bareass skeleton of an idea here. Just throwing it out to see if it gets shot down. I understand if it's a little too far fetched.

This could work quite well as long as it's kept realistic, that is to say, he's not some kind of James Bond superspy. A foreign Intel/Counter-Intel resistance member sounds very interesting. Perhaps work on the character sheet and take it from there.

[FourtyTwo]

I should probably mention, the characters I create may not at first make sense with the divisional structure, but they can click. The Scouts character, before you ask, is a real thing- there were Polish Scouts fighting as messengers and even soldiers if it was dire enough. The point being, at this point in time, Poland is far, far worse than any French resistance RP. These are veterans of the Eastern Front, it's horrifying some of the reports that occurred in Powstanie Warsawskie. It'll make you think twice about the Soviets being the good guys, too. The French may have rebelled for four years, but if you go to the Museum for the Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw, you'll find that what these people did really was mindblowing to liberate their country. The scale of the ruin in Warsaw is something we tend to forget too. Basically, Warsaw did almost resemble Hiroshima, minus a few standing husks of buildings- the sheer devastation and what the Nazis had to do in the end, was incredible, and the scale of urban fighting that occurred rivals many an account from Stalingrad. I seriously have wondered where this RP was for a while.

I'll fix my CSes appearances in time.

The divisional system ,while I like it, is a bit weird too. The AK wasn't massively organized outside of Warsaw- it was easily uprooted, and inbetween 1939 to 1944, the distance between Poland and Britain/France kind of meant that most of any attempt to rally resistance was actually incredibly hard- also considering that the whole country was locked down by the Germans, and had in essence, become divided into two pre-1941 into an intergrated German state (in which my mother's family existed), and

Oh, and another thing. SOE and other foreign groups were involved. But there is one key point. An SOE agent, if known to the Soviets..ohohoh. Well, they'd be gone. If the Soviets knew an SOE agent was in the Armia Krajowa, they'd think that they were supplied by the British, and because AK was going to become an illegal and terrorist organization after hostilities...well, they would be in a demanding position to have that person removed. They were responsible, mind you, for some incredible stuff. The Blyskawica is one of these beautiful and bastardized things that we kinda stole in the ideas department :D So keep that in mind, I'd personally still want a character like that in the RP to exist if someone else did it, but it's worth keeping that in mind.

I don't agree with dice-rolling myself too, I don't know entirely why. While I like the idea behind the risk element, it really would hamper the story-going element for me. So in short, while it means anything and everything is possible, it means that it flushes routes that I could have wanted to write out kinda go, and almost feels like I don't have any responsibility in designing the fate of my characters and those to be shot at. If it's possible, since I really, really have been wanting to fuel an RP like this for a while, I'd like to kind of have the opportunity to be trusted with the responsibility that of course, anything that my characters do isn't going to be gun-toting risk, but in a controlled manner that is discussed and responsible. I wouldn't feel comfortable with it is the point. I've done enough combat-based RPs to understand stupid, and opponent risk- dice rolling wouldn't work to me personally.

[HeySeuss]

I want to play the leader of what becomes a Jewish partisan brigade -- they existed in the real life timeline of WWII, and I intend to play out the politics of Judaism in the era; zionism, traditionalism, socialism and so forth, if that's alright.

Also, issues between the Jews and the rest of the Poles, relations with the Brits and the urgency of gathering and, more importantly, disseminating details on camp activities.

But, if not, I can happily slot into whatever role. I'll probably still do a Jew, however.

[DancingEagle]

kingkonrad said
The divisional system ,while I like it, is a bit weird too. The AK wasn't massively organized outside of Warsaw- it was easily uprooted, and in between 1939 to 1944, the distance between Poland and Britain/France kind of meant that most of any attempt to rally resistance was actually incredibly hard- also considering that the whole country was locked down by the Germans, and had in essence, become divided into two pre-1941 into an intergrated German state (in which my mother's family existed)

True, the AK wasn't organized per se, but they did have different "sections" like ops, intel, etc by mid to late war. I called them divisions to avoid confusion and to add a more specific role to PCs.

HeySeuss said
I want to play the leader of what becomes a Jewish partisan brigade -- they existed in the real life timeline of WWII, and I intend to play out the politics of Judaism in the era; zionism, traditionalism, socialism and so forth, if that's alright. Also, issues between the Jews and the rest of the Poles, relations with the Brits and the urgency of gathering and, more importantly, disseminating details on camp activities.But, if not, I can happily slot into whatever role. I'll probably still do a Jew, however.

While you can contact the Jewish resistance in Warsaw if you wish, I am not currently planning on having a seperate jewish partizans group/narrative. You can still gladly play as a Jew.

[DancingEagle]

(Double post)

[The New Yorker]

kingkonrad said
I should probably mention, the characters I create may not at first make sense with the divisional structure, but they can click. The Scouts character, before you ask, is a real Oh, and another thing. SOE and other foreign groups were involved. But there is one key point. An SOE agent, if known to the Soviets..ohohoh. Well, they'd be gone. If the Soviets knew an SOE agent was in the Armia Krajowa, they'd think that they were supplied by the British, and because AK was going to become an illegal and terrorist organization after hostilities...well, they would be in a demanding position to have that person removed. They were responsible, mind you, for some incredible stuff. The Blyskawica is one of these beautiful and bastardized things that we kinda stole in the ideas department :D So keep that in mind, I'd personally still want a character like that in the RP to exist if someone else did it, but it's worth keeping that in mind.

This will actually lend a great deal to how my character interacts with the overall movement. Thanks for bringing this up!

He's probably have to secure a really well hidden hole in wall, a place to hide and sleep when things get too hot.

DancingEagle said
This could work quite well as long as it's kept realistic, that is to say, he's not some kind of James Bond superspy. A foreign Intel/Counter-Intel resistance member sounds very interesting. Perhaps work on the character sheet and take it from there.

He'll be more like a British Naked Snake, actually Totally realistic though, nothing crazy.

[HeySeuss]

I posted up a logistics man.

[The New Yorker]

I posted my dude. Let me know if he's bad, or if something doesn't make sense. I'll probably be posting another character at some point. Maybe a lady...

[DancingEagle]

The New Yorker said
I posted my dude. Let me know if he's bad, or if something doesn't make sense. I'll probably be posting another character at some point. Maybe a lady...

As I said on the CharSheet thread:
A good character, and will be accepted, but there isn't a bridge between the two divisions. From the description of the character, I definitely recommend going Kedyw (special ops).

[The New Yorker]

Yeah, I responded.

[DancingEagle]

Added "Misc" division for resistance contributors without a big "division" to relate to, such as scouts and medics.

[The New Yorker]

DancingEagle said
Added "Misc" division for resistance contributors without a big "division" to relate to, such as scouts and medics.

What about British super spies?

[DancingEagle]

The New Yorker said
What about British super spies?

Knew you'd ask that. If you want, you can be a pre-SOE Operative if you think you'll manage it,

[Gunther]

Subscribed to thread. Will consider when I have more time. Off to a meeting and then a self defense class.

[HeySeuss]

I thought Schmuel was going as a logistics guy. It's actually a lot of the work, gathering up weapons, ammo, supplies. Also, and Jews did a lot of this, organizing small scale production. The Warsaw Jewish community tended to run a lot of small shops and family owned/run concerns that cranked out small stuff. As it happens, when they get stuffed in the Ghetto, they'll leave a lot of tools behind that are useful for this purpose.

There is at least one AK-affiliated Jewish group called the ZZW (Jewish Military Union) which is composed initially of Polish-Jewish ex-officers and later, various right wing aligned Polish Jews that exists from the invasion on, so there's options with that. (The ZOB, the Jewish Fighting Organization, is more labour-Zionist in nature and youth-driven. It springs up later)

I figure that the nature of covert manufacture of explosives and munitions means that it'll have to be done in small batches gathered over time. Food also, canned, jarred and otherwise preserved. That is more innocent as root cellars are a thing with Poles.

[DancingEagle]

HeySeuss said
I thought Schmuel was going as a logistics guy. It's actually a lot of the work, gathering up weapons, ammo, supplies. Also, and Jews did a lot of this, organizing small scale production. The Warsaw Jewish community tended to run a lot of small shops and family owned/run concerns that cranked out small stuff. As it happens, when they get stuffed in the Ghetto, they'll leave a lot of tools behind that are useful for this purpose.There is at least one AK-affiliated Jewish group called the ZZW (Jewish Military Union) which is composed initially of Polish-Jewish ex-officers and later, various right wing aligned Polish Jews that exists from the invasion on, so there's options with that. (The ZOB, the Jewish Fighting Organization, is more labour-Zionist in nature and youth-driven. It springs up later)I figure that the nature of covert manufacture of explosives and munitions means that it'll have to be done in small batches gathered over time. Food also, canned, jarred and otherwise preserved. That is more innocent as root cellars are a thing with Poles.

True. ZOB was the biggest organization, and was the main force during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising managed to hold off the Nazis off for about a month, before they started bombarding the Ghetto, as well as going window-by-window, burning the buildings to murder any survivors.

Anyways, I have the first IC post written. When do you want to begin?

[Gunther]

Karol Zabek

[The New Yorker]

DancingEagle said
True. ZOB was the biggest organization, and was the main force during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising managed to hold off the Nazis off for about a month, before they started bombarding the Ghetto, as well as going window-by-window, burning the buildings to murder any survivors.Anyways, I have the first IC post written. When do you want to begin?

I'm ready. I'll think of the other character as we go.