Night Witches

Greetings, Gamers!

I haven’t posted on the ole blog in awhile, but I was inspired by Jeremy Tolbert’s post, and realized that I, too, rarely talk about gaming here. It’s such a huge part of my life, that seems like an oversight I should correct!

So #RPGaDay 1 asks “What published RPG do you wish you were playing right now?” That’s a big question, because there are so many great choices. I’m fortunate right now to be juggling a few different campaigns (slow burns, long breaks between sessions) in some systems I really love. More on those games soon.

Right now, I’d love to be playing Night Witches, by Jason Morningstar and published by Bully Pulpit Games. In Night Witches, the players take on the roles of the women and girls of the Soviet Red Army Air Force during WWII who flew outdated biplanes against the Nazis. (It’s the Germans who actually coined the term “Night Witches,” so feared were they in the air.)

These women were serious bad-asses, but as you can imagine, there was a lot of drama on the ground for these groundbreaking feminists. Why there isn’t a killer Netflix or HBO series about them (yet), I don’t know, but there is this awesome game. Based on the narrative-focused Apocalypse World rules set, Night Witches not only lets you recreate the combat sorties against the Nazis through the course of the war, but also to create intriguing stories about life on base — the romances, the sexist politics, the grind of the war, the sinister investigations of the Soviet secret police and Nazi spies…

What’s not to love?

Since the days of the Robotech RPG (one of my childhood faves), I’ve always been intrigued by campaigns focused on fighter squadrons, and Night Witches has a ton of potential in this regard. I backed the Kickstarter a few years ago, but so far I haven’t quite found the time or the group to play it with. It’s a hyper-focused game and you really need full buy-in on the setting.

With a title like Night Witches, though, it’s not hard to imagine taking the idea literally — with badass Soviet fliers throwing down against Nazi dragons with actual spells and enchanted (if still outdated) biplanes.

But even as written, Night Witches takes a little-known historical group and turns it into a fascinating setting for a RPG. Definitely give it a look! Anyone game?