Dead Stick - A Solo Journaling Game by Croaker RPGs
Welcome to my playthrough of Dead Stick, a Croaker RPGs game (yes I wrote and designed this game!) about being a fighter groundcrew member during a world war. Created for the RPG Talk Jam about Aerial Dogfighting, I decided to go with something a tad different than the usual dashing pilots and darting fighter planes.
This game takes place away from the front of a world war. You are a mechanic who works on these fighter planes and watches them and their pilots slowly fall to pieces.
The game starts with creating the world and who you are as a character. You’ll use coin flips to determine which is true.
What country have you grown up in?
I flip two heads on my coin so I grew up in a free and open democracy. Personal liberty is protected and free thought flourishes. Despite this, my country is surrounded by hostile neighbours and we understand war can come at any time and we are as prepared as possible.
What level of technology is this war being fought with?
Two heads again. This war will be fought with dashing bi-planes that were little more than fantasy a decade ago. Flight was only recently discovered but it took no time for the militaries of the world to put those secrets to use in warfare. Soon weapons and bombs were attached to these flying machines and necessity quickly made them stronger and faster.
How did the war start?
A heads and a tails. The war started with a sudden flare-up of tensions that everyone thought was impossible Some old duke or something was assassinated in some city I can’t even pronounce. Almost instantly countries hundreds of miles away were mobilizing for war and calling up hundreds of thousands of conscripts. War started soon after…
Millions of people from your country either signed up or were forcibly drafted into uniform. How did you end up in the military?
A heads and tails. I was drafted with the millions of others. Conscripts they called us, called up in every nation across the continent from a dozen countries now at war. The notice arrived in my mail soon after the war started. I cried that night with my family but the next morning I packed my bag and left for the local military base. It is my duty.
Your aptitude for mechanics gave you the rare option of being able to choose which occupational specialty you would have. Why did you pick aircraft maintenance?
Tails and Tails. There was a small monthly bonus included if I could get into aircraft maintenance. I was the primary breadwinner back home and a draftee pay was not enough to keep my family fed. I passed the mechanical test and put in for aircraft maintenance. Against hundreds of others doing everything they could to stay out of the trenches, I was selected for training. Thank god…
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Alright, we are ready to get started on the actual meat of the game. It takes place several years into a war that seems endless. Already millions have died on the various fronts and your character has seen their share of horrors on the airfield. Planes coming back shot up and pilots dying on the flight line.
But rumours are there are huge developments in the war and it may end soon. But how many will die before that happens?
Dead Stick is pretty simple. Roll a D20 to get a war event. Write about your feelings and how the event affects you. After that, flip a coin and that will determine which side is winning the war.
Now let’s play!
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First I roll an 18 -
You wake up to gunshots. It takes you a minute to understand what that means. Not artillery, not bombs, but small arms. You wipe sleep from your mind and start to panic. The base is under attack. Some small group of enemy infiltrators must have gotten through. It's happened to other bases in the area. You scramble to find your rifle and get dressed. As the sounds of gunfire start to mix with screams and explosions, do you rush to the battle or get to safety? Why?
Pop. Pop. Pop. I wake up suddenly. I know that sound. Holy shit! Those are gunshots! I shoot upright and grab my rifle. It is drilled into us that we have to keep it at hand at all times unless we are actively working on the airplanes. More pops and then the loud RIIIPPP of a machine gun. Screams start, and people are in immense pain.
I keep my head down and peek outside of my tent. I see shadows moving in the distance but I can’t make out whose side they are on. How are we being attacked? We are miles and miles from the front. Must be a raid of some sort.
I’m no front-line shock troop. I became a mechanic for the pay and to stay alive. I head back into the airbase where I’ll be most protected and hope and pray security forces will take care of these people. No way I’m risking my life…
War Progress. Now we flip a coin to see how the war is going. Heads and it is going well. Tails it is going poorly. Tails. The war is going poorly.
Now I roll a 15 -
You and your crew have worked 36 hours straight. Between planes requiring maintenance, battle damage, and other duties, there is no respite in sight. You even swear you are starting to see things out of the corner of your eyes. As the work continues, you slip up, make a mistake and someone gets hurt. What did you do and how do you make up for it?
The work has gone on for 36 straight hours. Every time we finish one plane, another comes in shot up. The higher-ups say we can’t spare a single minute of downtime, so we’ve gone on and on now. For 36 hours…
My vision has become blurry. My speech is slurred. My hands are raw and bruised. Yet I work alongside my crew mates, we keep going.
Suddenly I heard a crash and a scream! Someone has been pinned under an engine. My god! That was an engine I removed. Did I forget to engage the stopping pin? I did. My god I did. Now somebody is crushed, their leg shattered and their war over.
I have to pick up the slack. They say they don’t blame me but their eyes tell their lies. I keep working, now known as the guy who hurt a crew member…
War Progress: A tails again. The war progress is now 0 for Going Well and 2 for Going Poorly.
Now I roll a 10 -
Retreat! The enemy has made significant tactical gains at the front. The Officers profess there is no danger to the integrity of the lines, but that it may be prudent to reestablish the airbase farther in the rear. You know what that means, it's a retreat.
For the first time, you think about what defeat could mean for your nation and yourself. What worries do you have?
The papers have been talking about huge clashes along the front for weeks now. Our planes and pilots have been flying near constant fighter sweeps over the battle lines. Rumors drift in of an enemy breakthrough, that our forces have routed. The officers call it pure hogwash but then I spot a caravan of retreating soldiers marching past the base. There is no doubt about it, we’ve taken a beating.
Soon after the officers tell us we are moving base. Just a precaution you see, nothing to worry about. We are just moving 60 miles back to be safe…
We all know what is really happening. A retreat, the first one I’ve seen. What if we lose the war? What if they break through? Our nation is free and the forces arraigned against it are not. Our way of life will be changed forever! What a thought, it barely warrants thinking.
War Progress: Tails again. 3 for Going poorly now.
Now I roll a 16 -
An aircraft comes into land. You can tell from the start that it's heavily damaged, shot to hell. You rush to the plane along with the rest of the crew and the medics. Holes are punched through the length of the machine, especially around the cockpit. You are first to the plane and you go to the pilot. Blood everywhere. The pilot is hit and hit badly. What do they say to you before the medics shove you out of the way? Who was this pilot to you?
I’ve settled into the new airbase with the rest of my unit. It isn’t nearly as well appropriated as our last one, but we make do. The fighters get working again in no time, again flying their sweeps and engaging in dashing air battles against the enemy.
Routinely the planes come into land and I can spot from a distance that one is smoking. As it gets closer I spot the bullet holes punched through the length of the bird. The plane lands rough and comes to a halt. I rush over and am the first there.
The scene is ghastly. Lt Bumsworth is hit badly. At least half a dozen bullet holes pierced his legs and torso. He won’t make it. I can see that clearly and I can see he knows it also. Damn, shame. lt Bumsworth is a decent fellow. Aristocratic like many officers but he will give you the time of day and doesn’t look down his nose at you.
He also owes me $20 from last night’s poker game. As he sees me he says “Sorry old chap, think I’ll have to owe you for a tad longer.” He makes a strained gurgly laugh just as the medics shove me out of the way. He died on the way to the field hospital…
War Progress: Tails yet again! What luck. The war is really going against them…
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That’s it for this preview of Dead Stick. If you like what you saw, be sure to pick up the game on Itch, Pay What You Want!
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