ODW-4

OneDice

Quick and easy role-playing rules for the Great War

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)
 OneDice
Quick and easy role-playing rules for the Great War

by Peter Cakebread

OneDice system design by Peter Cakebread

Editing: Peter Cakebread
Layout, Proofing, Cover Design: Ken Walton
All Illustrations: Bob Brown at BattleKraken
(www.facebook.com/battlekraken)

Copyright: OneDice WW1 ©2015 by Cakebread & Walton. OneDice system copyright 2015 by Peter Cakebread.
All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without the permission of the publisher is expressly
forbidden. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United Kingdom.

www.clockworkandchivalry.co.uk

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)

 Contents
Introduction 3 Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section 49
About this book 5 Game Styles 49
What is a Role-playing game? 5 The Great War 55
What will I need to play? 6 Extra Rules 62
Rolling the Bones 6 Chapter 3 - Skins 71
Chapter 1 - How to Play 7 Skin One - Horror/Occult 71
Making an Adventurer 7 Skin Two - Endless War 79
Abilities 8 Chapter 4 - Adventure Seeds 84
Your Adventurer’s Background 10 Tour of Duty 84
Skills 19 Dig Deep 86
Fights 29 The Enemy Within 86
Death, Dying and Recovery 32 Secret Weapon 86
Vehicle Combat 34 Zombie Attack 87
Stunt Points 35 Appendices 88
Equipping Your Adventurer 37 Timeline 88
Finishing Touches 46 The Sides 95
Experience and Levels 47 Military Organisation 99
Character Sheet 104

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)

 Introduction

OneDice WW1 is a roleplaying game set at the time of World War One (also
known as WW1 or the Great War), fought between 1914-1918.
Before war was declared, no-one expected the scale of the slaughter, nor that
the war would go on so long. A global conflict, costing millions of lives, the
war involved the mobilisation and shattering of the mightiest of armies ever
assembled.
This was a world-spanning war, fought on a previously unimaginable industrial
scale.
Whether you want to play as one of the front-line combatants in the mighty
conflict or as a civilian, spy, medic or journalist, all the rules you need are in
this book.
There are additional “skins” for adding Occultish Horror and Endless War twists
to the world, along with a bunch of adventure seeds to get you started playing
quickly. Grab a copy of one of the other books in the OneDice range and you
could also add steampunk, fantasy races or superheroes to the mix!
Whether an enthusiastic recruit, a jaded veteran, or a non-combatant on a
special mission – it’s time to enter the grim and dangerous world of OneDice
WW1.

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)

 Introduction

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)

 Introduction

More on Gamekeepers and Players

Perhaps the best way to describe the difference between the Gamekeeper
and the Players is to imagine it’s like a war movie. The Gamekeeper writes
and directs, as well as playing all the extras, enemies, etc. The Players are
the actors, who play the role of the main heroes (their Adventurers). But
unlike in the movies, there isn’t a set script that everyone has to follow –
the Players decide what their Adventurers are going to say and do, and
those actions will often change the direction the movie takes and the
reactions of the Gamekeeper’s characters.

About This Book

This book contains everything you need to know to play or run OneDice WW1
games.
The Introduction is what you are reading now!
Chapter One tells you how to play the game and how to make an Adventurer
- your Adventurer is the character you control in OneDice WW1 world.
Chapter Two has some handy notes for the Gamekeeper. Players should skip
this chapter!
Chapter Three contains two “Skins” – additional material that offers some
alternate ways of presenting the setting.
Chapter Four provides some adventure seeds for the game.
The Appendices contain some historical information about WW1.
At the back of the book is a character sheet, which can be photocopied to use
in the game.

What is a Role-playing Game?

Role-playing games (RPGs) are a kind of “Let’s pretend” – but you don’t need
to dress up and run around, you all play around a table, using your
imaginations to tell the story.
Players play as Adventurers in the Great War – and you describe what your
Adventurer says and does.

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)

 You can say exactly what you want to say (as long as it is the kind of thing your
Adventurer would say), get your Adventurer to attempt to do whatever you
want him or her to do, and the Gamekeeper is there to tell you what happens
next.
When you want your Adventurer to act in the game, the Gamekeeper will
sometimes get you to roll a dice to see if your Adventurer succeeds or fails in
what he or she is trying to do. The Gamekeeper is in charge – it’s only fair,
they have to present a story, apply the rules and keep the game moving.
A game can last as little as two or three hours, but you might want to play a
long adventure, that carries on week to week, like a TV series – the
Adventurers gaining experience and skills as they go along, defeating old
villains, meeting new ones and generally acting like heroes.

What Will I Need to Play?

This book; some friends to play with (two is enough for a game, but more is
better); some pens, pencils and paper; some tokens to represent Stunt Points
(toy coins, poker chips, squares of cardboard - whatever really); and a six-sided
dice (the sort you get in most board games).

Rolling the Bones

A six-sided dice is the only dice you need to play the game. When you want
your Adventurer to do something that is risky (such as have a fight, climb out
of a steep shell hole, jump over a patch of mud, etc.), the Gamekeeper will
give you a Target Number and ask you to roll a dice to beat it. You’ll roll a
number between one and six – which you might get to add a bonus to. What
you rolled, including bonuses, is compared to the Target Number. If you equal
it or beat it, your Adventurer succeeds in what he or she was trying to do, if
you don’t, your Adventurer fails.
If you fail, you might need to spend some Stunt Points to save your Adventurer.
Everyone has some Stunt Points at the start of each game session. You can
use these to perform cool stunts or avoid disaster.
So it’s simple – you roll your dice, add any bonuses, and find out if your
Adventurer has had a success or failure.

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 Chapter One –
How to Play

The rules for OneDice WW1 are simple. Sometimes you will need to roll a six
sided-dice to see if your Adventurer can do what you want him or her to do
– mostly that’s it! The game rules are presented alongside rules for making
an Adventurer...

Making an Adventurer
To make an Adventurer, you will need to:
Decide your Adventurer’s abilities – the abilities are Strong, Clever and Quick.
Calculate your Health, Defence and Move – These are calculated based on
your Adventurer’s abilities.
Decide your Adventurer’s background – their social position and the job they
do.
Give your Adventurer some more skills – your Adventurer is allowed 4 more
Skill Points to spend however they choose.
Give your Adventurer some stuff – give your Adventurer some starting money
and equipment and let them buy some extras.

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Give your Adventurer some finishing touches – including a name and 6 Stunt
Points (more on them later!).
As your Adventurer completes adventures, his or her skills and abilities rise.
Experience and Levels, explains how this works.

Abilities
All characters and creatures have a set of abilities as follows:
Strong – How strong your Adventurer is. This is good for when you want to
lift, carry, push, pull, thump enemies with your fists or kick them with your
foot, hit someone with a shovel or rifle butt, threaten someone to get what
you want, etc.
Clever – How clever your Adventurer is. This is good for when you want to
read a map, follow a course, aim and shoot a gun, read a difficult book, work
out how to use a device you’ve never seen before, negotiate with someone
to get what you want, etc.
Quick – How quick your Adventurer’s reactions are and how nimble your
Adventurer is. This is good for when you want to climb, go first in a fight,
scramble out of mud, sneak about, hide from an enemy, etc.
Each Player has 6 Ability Points to be divided between their Adventurer’s
Strong, Clever and Quick.

“Front-line” or “Behind the Lines” Games

In OneDice WW1 you should always consult with the Gamekeeper to make
sure you are creating the kind of Adventurer that would work in his or her
game. Due to the nature of the setting, Adventurers should usually all be
on the same side (Central Powers or Allies/Entente); and have a good
reason to be working together (e.g. as a part of the same military unit; as
a mix of civilian observers and military personnel stationed together; as
members of the same medical team; as investigators attempting to solve
a mystery that may or may not be directly connected to the war; as spies
or specialist operatives, conducting missions behind enemy lines; etc.). If
the Gamekeeper is intending to run an “in the trenches” adventure, it will
probably restrict the choice of characters considerably – while a “behind
the lines” game might include all the sample Job Skill Sets listed below.

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Strong, Clever and Quick must each be given a score between 1 and 3.
Example 1
Our first Player wants to play someone who is strong and fairly fast. He uses
his 6 points to give his Adventurer, Frank Rowbottom: Strong 3, Clever 1, Quick
2.
Example 2
Another Player wants a good all-rounder, so she gives her Adventurer, Joan
Smith: Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2.
Example 3
Our last Player wants to play a someone who is clever and reasonably nimble,
so she gives her Adventurer, Grace Fournboy: Strong 1, Clever 3, Quick 2.
As Adventurers progress and gain Experience, they’ll have an opportunity to
improve these starting scores.
With your initial Abilities assigned, you can calculate three more attributes,
Health, Defence and Move.
Health – Shows how healthy your Adventurer is. If your Adventurer has an
accident or gets hurt in a fight, he or she will lose Health. Health can be
restored, so you should always keep a note of your Adventurer’s maximum
Health. Maximum Health is your Adventurer’s Strength multiplied by 3.
Defence – The score an attacker needs to roll to injure you. Defence is three
times your Adventurer’s Strong or Quick (whichever is higher). You can buy
(or be issued) protective clothing to raise this score.
Move – How quick your Adventurer can run in metres in a single combat
round. Move is ten times your Adventurer’s Quick.
So let’s look again at our previous examples.
Example 1
Our first Player, Tom, chose Strong 3, Clever 1, Quick 2; so his Adventurer,
Frank, has Health 9, Defence 9 and Move 30.

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 Chapter One – How to Play

Example 2
Our second Player, Helen, chose Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2; so her Adventurer,
Joan, has Health 6, Defence 6 and Move 20.
Example 3
Our last Player, Aisha, chose Strong 1, Clever 3, Quick 2; so her Adventurer,
Grace, has Health 3, Defence 6 and Move 20.

Your Adventurer’s Background

Your Adventurer’s background includes their social status and the job (if any)
they do.

Social Status
Players should decide on their Adventurer’s social status.
(Note: This choice will have some impact on the professions available to the
Adventurer and also determine his or her starting money.)
There are three statuses to choose from:

Aristocratic/Wealthy
Aristocrats are born into money – at least, most of them are! They will usually
be accustomed to having a host of servants maintaining the family home, as
well as their own personal maid or valet – although there has been a shortage
of servants since the war started; will have received a high (and usually brutal)
standard of education; are likely be well travelled; and, especially if young,
will probably be aware of the latest fashions and technologies.
If an aristocratic family is hard up, they will often arrange to marry into “new
money” – e.g. by swapping the status that their eldest son’s title and family
name brings for the spending power of an industrialist’s heiress.

Middle Class/Comfortable
The middle classes tend to live a comfortable life. Men probably work as
professionals, small business owners or career bureaucrats, etc. – perhaps as
a doctor, accountant, teacher, shopkeeper, government or bank clerk, etc.
Women are discouraged from working at all – but the war has changed all
that!

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Female Adventurers
Most working class women worked before the outbreak of the war, but
women were paid less and prevented from doing lots of jobs. Most
wealthier women were expected not to work at all.
To an extent, the war changed this. Women began working in previously
male occupations on the home front (often in the face of fierce
resistance), including policing, fire fighting, sports and heavy industry.
They also joined Auxiliary military forces where they might be trained as
mechanics, drivers, given rudimentary combat training, etc.
With a (very) few notable exceptions, women didn’t fight on the front-line
(aside from in revolutionary Russia). You might simply decide to set your
game away from the front-line (most of the time!). Or it may be that your
gaming group is happy to play characters of another gender to their own;
or you might decide that women characters in your game are among the
notable exceptions to the rule – either donning the guise of male soldiers
to fight in an army or simply flouting the regulations and insisting on
carrying a gun (it happened extremely rarely, but it did happen).

They probably have at least one or two servants – if upper middle class, the
servants probably live in with the family, tending to their every need; if lower
middle class, they will employ a cleaner (and possibly a cook), although the
servants may not live in full-time with their employers.
Although the middle classes aren’t as well travelled as the rich, they may
possibly have lived abroad – perhaps as a part of a colonial administration,
trading company or as a serving military officer (or relation of the same).

Working Class/Poor
The vast majority of people are working class. Without a vote; probably
working in service or in precarious, dirty and dangerous industrial or
agricultural occupations (as servants, labourers, stable hands, factory workers,
apprentices, soldiers, miners, dockers, etc.); and often with only the charity
of one’s own family (who will likely be equally as poor and desperate) to fall

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 Chapter One – How to Play
back on in hard times. Before the war, economies were in crisis – growing
internal unrest only abating with the outbreak of the conflict.
The working class is generally unhealthy and hungry, which has been a
problem for the military recruiters. Nevertheless, many of the poorest are
carried away by propaganda and jingoism and have been quick to join up to
fight the enemy. Some will have travelled previously, if their jobs demanded
it (soldiers, sailors, etc.), but most of the poor will have not travelled far from
their birthplace, let alone visited a foreign country before.

Example Job Skill Sets

Adventurers have jobs they do that give them some initial skills, and even
those who don’t work (such as dilettante aristocrats) will have picked up
something. Choose one of the following careers (or, with the Gamekeeper’s
permission, make up your own).
You’ll get to choose four more skills later, so if you don’t have everything you
want from your job, don’t worry. Most jobs are generally only open to people
of certain social statuses, which are noted, within brackets, after the job title.

Another Way
The following skill sets are to help get you started. It is not an exhaustive
list of occupations of the time. With the Gamekeeper’s permission, you
could choose any 1914-18 job and simply pick all 6 skills or come up with
a mutually agreed starting skill list. For instance, if you want to play an
entrepreneur, you might agree Trade and Negotiate as good starting skills;
whereas a professional athlete might plump for Acrobatics and Throw or
Swim (depending on the sport in which they are a professional), etc.

Auxiliary (Any) – Craft 1, Drive 1

Trained to work in supporting roles, behind the lines or on the home front.
Batman/woman (Working Class) – Drive 1, Etiquette 1
An officer’s personal driver and servant.
Chaplain (Any) – Lore 1, Psychology 1

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A military or civilian preacher.

Criminal (Any) – Dodgy 1, Sneaky 1
A professional law breaker.
Dilettante (Aristocrat) – Art 1, Etiquette 1
A member of high society.
Diplomat (Aristocrat) – Etiquette 1, Language 1
Top level international negotiator.
Engineer (Middle Class or Working Class) – Engineering 1, Craft 1
A civilian or military (Sapper) engineer.
Infantry Recruit, Private* (Working Class) – Blades 1, Shooting 1
A recent recruit (volunteer or conscript) to the infantry.
Infantry Recruit, NCO* (Working Class) – Intimidate 1, Bruiser 1
A recent recruit (volunteer or conscript) to the infantry, already promoted to
Non-Commissioned Officer rank.
Infantry Recruit, Field Officer* (Aristocrat, Middle Class) – Command 1,
Perception 1
A recent officer ranked recruit (volunteer or conscript) to the infantry.
Intelligence Officer (Any) – Disguise 1, Cryptology 1
Tasked with intelligence and counter-intelligence collection, gathering and/or
analysing.
Journalist (Middle Class) – Investigate 1, Research 1
Writes stories for a news publication.
Medical Doctor (Wealthy or Middle Class) – Medicine 2
A military or civilian medical Doctor.
Medical Orderly (Working Class) – Medicine 1, Perception 1
A stretcher bearer and/or hospital porter - probably a private or NCO in a
medical unit.

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Medical Nurse, Professional (Working Class) – Medicine 1, Psychology 1

Someone trained in the nursing profession, probably a nurse or a Sister.
Medical Nurse, Volunteer (Any) – Negotiate 1, Perception 1
A volunteer nurse, usually supervised by professional nurses.
Navy (Merchant or Military), Sailor (Working Class) – Shiphandling 1, Climb
1
Non-Commissioned crew member (a seaman, mate, stoker, etc.).
Navy (Merchant or Military), Officer (Aristocrat or Middle Class) – Command
1, Shiphandling 1
A naval officer.
Photographer (Any) – Art 1, Perception 1
Working independently or for a newspaper or the military.
Pilot (Wealthy or Middle Class) – Pilot 1, Navigate 1
Flies military or civilian aeroplanes.
Police, Civilian – (Working Class) – Bludgeon 1, Bruiser 1
Beat law enforcement officer.
Police, Detective (Working Class, Middle Class) – Investigate 1, Perception 1
Law enforcement officer tasked with investigating crimes.
Police, Military, Private/NCO* (Working Class) – Bruiser 1, Bludgeon 1
Possibly an ex-civilian police officer, now as a military police officer.
Police, Military, Officer* (Middle Class) - Command 1, Security 1
An Officer in the military police.
Politician (Wealthy, Middle Class) – Negotiate 1, Trade 1
A politician, either in a Government, opposition, or on a diplomatic visit from
a foreign power.
Professional Infantry, Private* (Working Class) – Bruiser 1, Shooting 1
A soldier in the regular army.

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Professional Infantry, NCO* (Working Class) – Intimidate 1, Shooting 1

A Non-Commissioned Officer in the regular army.
Professional Infantry, Field Officer* (Aristocrat, Middle Class) Command 1,
Blades 1
An regular army officer in a fighting or reserve unit.
Professional Infantry, Staff Officer* (Aristocrat, Middle Class) Etiquette 1,
Command 1
Officer at staff headquarters, possibly an ex-cavalry officer.
Professional Cavalry, Private/Trooper* (Working Class) – Shooting 1, Ride 1
A cavalry soldier in the army.
Professional Cavalry, NCO* (Working Class) – Intimidate 1, Ride 1
A Non-Commissioned Officer in the cavalry.
Professional Cavalry, Field Officer* (Aristocrat, Middle Class) Command 1,
Ride 1
A cavalry officer in the army.
Soldier, Artillery, Private* (Working Class) – Artillery 1, Perception 1
A gunner or signaller in an artillery unit.
Soldier, Artillery, NCO* (Working Class) – Artillery 1, Intimidate 1
A non-commissioned officer in an artillery unit.
Soldier, Artillery, Officer (Aristocrat, Middle Class) – Artillery 1, Command 1
An officer in an artillery unit.
Private Investigator (Middle Class) – Investigate 1, Research 1
Someone who conducts investigations for money.
Scientist (Middle Class) – Science 1, Research 1
A civilian scientist or employed by the military, researching and conducting
experiments.
Servant (Working Class) – Negotiation 1, Sneaky 1

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A paid servant of a middle class or wealthy employer.

Spy (Any) – Investigate 1, Disguise 1
A government agent working to gather information, spread disinformation
and undertake special missions.
Traveller (Aristocrat) – Navigate 1, Survival 1
A wealthy individual who goes out to see the world - an international traveller
or explorer.
*Military ranks are discussed in more detail in the Appendices on p.99.

Our example characters are all given occupations and names:

Example 1
Our first Player, Tom, wants Frank to be a medical orderly – so Frank’s profile
looks like this:
Frank Rowbottom, Medical Orderly (NCO), Working Class, Strong 3, Clever 1,
Quick 2, Health 9, Defence 9, Move 30, Medicine 1, Perception 1
Example 2
Our second Player, Helen, wants Joan to be a professional nurse – so Joan’s
profile looks like this:
Joan Smith, Professional Nurse, Working Class, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2,
Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20, Medicine 1, Psychology 1
Example 3
Our last Player, Aisha, wants Grace to be a British spy (currently posing as a
volunteer nurse) – so Grace’s profile looks like this:
Grace Fournboy, Spy, Middle Class, Strong 1, Clever 3, Quick 2, Health 3,
Defence 6, Move 20, Investigate 1, Disguise 1

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Skills
Adventurers now receive 4 more skill points, which can be spent on buying
skills.
Like Abilities, skills are given a number (e.g. Climb 1, Climb 2, Climb 3, etc) –
but no skill can be higher than 2 at the beginning of the game. It is possible
to spend Skill Points to raise one of the skills your Adventurer already
possesses (from their job or social station) to 2, but the limit remains the
same.
The following is a list of example skills:
Acrobatics (Quick) – Good at acrobatic moves.
Artillery (Clever) – Good at firing artillery weapons.
Art (Clever) – Good at creating art.
Blades (Strong) – Good at hand-to-hand fighting with a bladed weapon
(bayonet, sabre, etc.).
Bludgeon (Strong) – Good at hand-to-hand fighting with a blunt weapon
(hammer, shovel, cosh, etc.).
Bruiser (Strong) – Good at unarmed fighting (punching, kicking, head butting,
etc.).
Climb (Quick) – Good at climbing.
Command (Clever) – Good at giving orders.
Craft (Clever) – Good at making and repairing things.
Cryptology (Clever) – Good at creating and breaking codes.
Disguise (Clever) – Good at carrying off a disguise.
Dodgy (Clever) – Good at dealing with criminals and being streetwise.
Drive (Quick) – Good at driving a motor car, train or cart.
Engineering (Clever) – Good at building, repairing and understanding engines.
Entertainer (Quick) – Good at entertaining others (by singing, dancing,
juggling grenades, etc.).

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Etiquette (Clever) – Good at knowing the social rules of the wealthy and
middle classes.
Gambling (Quick) – Good at gambling (and cheating).
Intimidate (Strong) – Good at bullying others.
Investigation (Clever) – Good at looking for and analysing clues.
Language (Clever) – Good at speaking a language (other than the character’s
own). Each language is a separate skill.
Lore (Clever) – Good at knowing stuff.
Medicine (Clever) – Good at healing people. Only people with medicine can
restore Health.
Navigate (Clever) – Good at reading maps and following them.
Negotiate (Clever) – Good at talking their way out of trouble.
Perception (Quick) – Good at noticing and hearing things.
Pilot (Clever) – Good at piloting an aircraft or airship.
Pickpocket (Quick) – Good at picking pockets.
Psychology (Clever) – Good at reading people’s emotions and noticing when
they are lying.
Research (Clever) – Good at researching a topic (using libraries, archives, etc).
Ride (Quick) – Good at looking after and riding a horse.
Science (Clever) – Good at science.
Security (Clever) – Good at creating or picking locks; arming or disarming
traps; mounting or countering security measures (patrols, passwords, etc.);
etc.
Shiphandling (Clever) – Good at piloting and working aboard a nautical vessel.
Shooting (Clever) – Good at firing a gun.
Sneaky (Quick) – Good at creeping up on people or hiding from them.
Survival (Clever) – Good at surviving in the wilderness.
Swim (Strong) – Good at swimming.

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Teaching (Clever) – Good at getting basic concepts over to others.
Throw (Quick) – Good at throwing weapons (such as rocks, knives, grenades,
etc.).
Track (Clever) – Good at finding and following tracks.
Trade (Clever) – Good at spotting a bargain, selling and negotiating a good
price.
Trench Lore (Clever) – Good at surviving in a static front-line.

Example 1
Tom decides that, while Frank might be a pacifist when it comes to taking up
arms to fight in the war, Frank isn’t so shy when using his fists to defend himself
or his friends – so he gives him Bruiser 1. He also decides that Frank is rather
good at scrounging and making dodgy deals to get whatever he and his friends
might need, so he also gives him – Negotiate 1 and Dodgy 1. Frank has been
taught to drive field ambulances, so he also gets Drive 1. Frank’s profile now
looks like this:
Frank Rowbottom, Medical Orderly (NCO), Working Class, Strong 3, Clever 1,
Quick 2, Health 9, Defence 9, Move 30, Medicine 1, Perception 1, Bruiser 1,
Negotiate 1, Drive 1, Dodgy 1
Example 2
Helen decides that Joan is an efficient nurse – used to handling difficult
Doctors, noticing when something isn’t right on her ward and keen to teach
less experienced nurses her skills, so she gives Joan – Negotiate 1, Perception
1 and Teaching 1. She also decides that Joan is a quick learner and has picked
up Languages (French) 1, while stationed in France.
Joan Smith, Professional Nurse, Working Class, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2,
Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20, Medicine 1, Psychology 1, Negotiate 1,
Perception 1, Teaching 1, Languages (French) 1
Example 3
Aisha decides Grace has received intensive field training – including code-
cracking, using firearms and dealing with security measures – so she gives her

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Cryptology 1, Shooting 1 and Security 1. She also speaks German (which is

one of the reasons she was recruited!), so has Languages (German) 1.
Grace Fournboy, Spy, Middle Class, Strong 1, Clever 3, Quick 2, Health 3,
Defence 6, Move 20, Investigate 1, Disguise 1, Cryptology 1, Shooting 1,
Security 1, Languages (German) 1

All the Adventurers in the above examples are just about done. Next, they all
get 6 Stunt Points, ready for the first game session, then all they need is some
money and equipment and they’re finished.

Creating New Skills

You might want a skill that is not listed above. New skills can only be created
with the Gamekeeper’s permission. When coming up with a new skill there
are two things to check:
1. Check it isn’t already covered by another skill.
2. Check it is reasonable – a skill should be useful, but not more powerful than
the existing skills.

Skill Use
There are three occasions when you might be asked to roll your dice to make
a skill check.
When you want your Adventurer to perform an action
Examples
When you want your Adventurer to climb out of a shell hole, track a trail,
navigate using a map, etc.
When your Adventurer is trying to perform an action and someone is
working against him or her
Examples
When your Adventurer enters an arm-wrestling contest, wants to sneak up
on somebody, is negotiating a trade, etc.
When the Gamekeeper wants to see whether something happens to your
Adventurer
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Examples
When the Gamekeeper wants to see if your Adventurer has resisted a poison,
has spotted an object, has fallen unconscious, etc.

Note: Stunt Points can be spent to gain an automatic success on any

non-combat skill check (see p.35).

How to Use Skills To Perform Actions

Most characters have various abilities and skills they can use to attempt to
perform an action (such as climb up a rope, find a clue, etc.). The basic chance
of carrying out an action depends on how difficult it is.

Routine everyday actions are considered so easy that they can be usually
be done automatically - someone driving a car (and who has the Drive
skill) doesn’t need to make a roll to go driving on a wide well-maintained
road on a calm clear day. You don’t need to roll a dice to get your
Adventurer to perform these routine actions. But if the weather is stormy
and the road is muddy and narrow, you will need to roll a dice for these
more difficult actions.

The Gamekeeper always decides the difficulty of any task. In the list below,
the figure beside the difficulty is the Target Number needed to succeed at an
action:

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Difficulty Target Number (TN) Example

Driving on a quiet clear day on a
Routine No roll needed
wide road.
Mildly challenging 3 Driving in the pouring rain.
Driving fast in the pouring rain on
Challenging 6
a narrow road.
Driving on a busy narrow muddy
Hard 8
road, in the driving rain.
Driving through the mist on a
Very Difficult 10
crowded narrow muddy road.
Driving on an icy track in a
Near Impossible 12+ tempest, while shells explode
around you.

To see whether your Adventurer succeeds at a task, roll one six-sided dice,
then add to the result the relevant ability (the Adventurer’s score in Strong,
Clever or Quick) and skill (if he or she has one). Compare the result to the
Target Number – if you equal or beat it, you have succeeded. If you have failed
to beat it, your action has been unsuccessful (and there may be a consequence).

Skill Rolls
Remember!
When the Gamekeeper asks for a skill roll:
Roll the dice + Ability (Strong, Clever or Quick) + Skill (if any) = result
Example
Frank is driving a field ambulance along a narrow road in the pouring rain
- and he is in a hurry. The Gamekeeper decides it is a Challenging (Target
Number 6) ride. Frank has a Quick of 2 and Drive 1. His Player rolls a 6,
adds the 2 and 1, for a total of 9. He beats the target by 3 points and safely
makes the journey.

Anyone can try almost anything, as everyone has at least 1 in each ability. You
don’t need to have Navigate to try and puzzle out a map – you just use your
Clever score. Likewise, if you don’t have Climb, you will just have to use Quick
on its own, etc.

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Example 1
Joan, the nurse, is climbing a steep cliff. The Gamekeeper decides it is a
Challenging climb, and sets the difficulty at 6. Her Player rolls a dice – and
gets a 4. She adds Joan’s Quick of 2, for a total of 6. She doesn’t have Climb,
so can’t add anything for that. She just makes it!!!
Example 2
Grace is lost in the countryside. She needs to find food and shelter, while she
waits for Frank and Joan to find her. The Gamekeeper decides it’ll be hard to
find what she needs so late in the day, so sets the difficulty at 8. Grace hasn’t
got the Survival skill, so can only add her Clever (which is 3) to the dice roll.
Her Player will need to roll an 8 to succeed. She rolls a 4. Adding her Clever
(3) she gets a total of 7. She’ll have to go hungry tonight and sleep out under
the stars.

Exceptions to the Rule

The Gamekeeper may rule that some tasks are just too difficult for an
amateur to have a go at. It’s unlikely that an untrained Adventurer will be
able to cut a flawless gemstone without the Craft skill, even if he or she
is exceptionally lucky.

Skill Vs Skill
Sometimes your Adventurer will want to do something that another character
wants to challenge. When arm-wrestling, competing in a running race,
sneaking up on someone who is trying to spot you, etc., you’ll need to make
a Skill vs Skill test for your Adventurer to see who succeeds.
To make a Skill vs Skill test, the player rolls a dice and adds any bonuses. The
Gamekeeper rolls dice for whoever is opposing (unless it is another Player’s
Adventurer), also adding any bonuses. Whoever gets the highest total wins.
If both the Player and the Gamekeeper get the same totals, it’s a draw (unless
that makes no sense, such as when trying to sneak up on someone, in which
case the Player wins).

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Healing isn’t Easy

Medicine is one of the skills which can never be practiced untrained.
Anyone can try and stop the bleeding, make a patient comfortable, etc.,
but only a character with Medicine can heal Health (their own or that of
other character’s).
A character wishing to use the Medicine skill must decide how much
damage they wish to heal (on the table below), then roll against the
appropriate Target Number – a failure means that no healing takes place.
Amount of Healing Target Number
1 dice a divided by 2 6
1 dice 8
1 dice multiplied by 2 10
Use of a designated room with the proper equipment, books and
medicines gives a +2 bonus to the roll. A Medicine roll of 1 is always a
failure – so even if the character combined his or her Clever and Medicine,
for a starting total of 6 or above, a dice still needs to be rolled – as a 1
would still fail (and it would be 24 hours before the medic could try again).

Example 1
Frank and Joan are playing cards. Frank’s Player rolls a 3 and adds 1 for his
Clever, for a total of 4. He doesn’t have Gambling, so can’t add it. Joan’s Player
rolls a 4, adds 2 for her Clever, for a total of 6. She also lacks Gambling, so
can’t add it. Frank has lost and Joan wins the game. Had Frank also got a total
of 6 (by rolling a 5), it would have been a draw, and neither character would
have won.
Example 2
Joan is trying to palm a medicine vial. Her Player rolls a 4 and adds her Quick
of 2 for a total of 6. The Gamekeeper rolls for the clerk she is trying to rob and
gets a 3. She adds the clerk’s Clever of 2 – unfortunately for Joan, the clerk
also has Perception 1, so also gets a total of 6. As Joan is a Player’s Adventurer,
while the clerk is the Gamekeeper’s, Joan wins – but only just!

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Having the Advantage

Sometimes one of the sides in an opposing skill test will have an advantage
or disadvantage and the Gamekeeper will give an extra bonus or penalty
to the dice roll.
Example
Grace is at the Mess Hall dance, when she notices a reveller, who she
suspects of supplying dangerous information to the enemy, slip a
suspicious looking envelope into his pocket. Grace makes sure that Frank
keeps the suspect’s drink topped up – and before long the suspect is drunk
and dancing, badly, in a corner of the room, with only Frank and Joan for
company. Grace tries to pick the drunken suspect’s pocket. The
Gamekeeper decides none of the other revellers are watching, and gives
Grace a +2 bonus to add to her dice. Grace’s Player rolls a 6, adds a bonus
of 2 (her Quick) and a further +2 (as the target is drunk), for a total of 10.
The Gamekeeper makes a roll to see if the drunken suspect spots the
robbery – he rolls a 5, adds the guest’s Clever of 1 and Perception of 1 for
a total of 7 – the double agent won’t be happy later, when he finds that
he has been duped and the important envelope, containing a map detailing
the next planned push, has gone!

Making A Difference
Sometimes the amount that the winner wins by makes a difference. How
much of a difference is up to the Gamekeeper.
Example
Frank wants to sell a solid gold watch he “found” to a friendly (and shady)
Regimental Quarter Master Sergeant (RQMS). The watch should sell for
100 shillings. Frank rolls a 4 and adds his Clever of 1 for a total of 5. The
Gamekeeper gets a 5, adds the ’s RQMS’s Clever of 2 and Trade of 3 for a
total of 10. The difference is 5 (The RQMS’s 10 minus Franks’s 5). The
Gamekeeper decides that the RQMS will pay a maximum of 50 shillings
(deciding a -10 penalty should be subtracted for every point of difference
between the two rolls).

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Fights
Being at the centre of a heroic tale, means sooner or later your Adventurer
will get into a fight. Fights take place in combat rounds, each lasting just a few
seconds. In a combat round, each fighter takes it in turns to try and hit and
damage their opponent(s).
Note: Don’t forget that Stunt Points can be used to perform special actions
in combat, on top of those described in this section.

Combat Basics
Combat rounds basically work like this:
Everyone rolls Initiative at the start the combat – to find out who goes
first (roll the dice and add Quick - highest wins).
Then, from highest to lowest Initiative, each character:
Rolls to hit – Roll the dice and add any bonuses to beat the opponent’s
Defence. A character can also try to move (charge into combat or run
away) in this part of the round.
Calculates damage – on a successful hit. Remove any damage from
opponent’s Health.

Surprise and Distance

Sometimes one of the sides in a fight will be surprised – if one side is expecting
an attack and the other isn’t; if one side has successfully sneaked up on
opponents who have failed to spot them; a successful ambush or trench raid,
etc. If so, the side who is surprised doesn’t get to make attacks in the first
round of combat. If both or neither side is surprised, then it cancels out, so
combat starts normally with Initiative.
How far apart the opponents are at the start of combat depends on the terrain
– if both parties turn a corner and bump into one another, then they can move
instantly into hand-to-hand; if both parties spot each other at the other side
of a wide valley, they won’t be able to start fighting until someone moves into
the range of the other side’s weapons (assuming they have ranged weapons

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– which, if they are soldiers, they likely will); both sides clash in hand-to-hand
fighting, etc.
In this case, don’t roll Initiative until someone can actually hit someone else.

Initiative
Unless the Gamekeeper judges one side to be surprised (in which case the
other side gets a free attack), each character in a fight must roll Initiative at
the start of combat. Roll the dice and add your Adventurer’s Quick.
You only roll Initiative at the start of the fight – anyone joining the fight rolls
Initiative when they enter the fray.
Example
Grace has a Quick of 2. She is fighting an enemy agent who also has a Quick
of 2. Grace’s Player rolls a 1, adds Grace’s’s Quick of 2, for a total of 3. The
Gamekeeper rolls a 6 for the enemy agent and adds a further 2 for his Quick,
for a total of 8. The enemy agent goes first.
What if there is a draw?
If there is a draw, the Player’s Adventurer goes before the Gamekeeper’s
character. If two Players’ Adventurers are attacking each other, and they draw
on Initiative, they act at exactly the same time.

Roll To Hit
In this part of a round the character can try to hit an opponent or try another
sort of action. He or she can try and hit using a ranged weapon (rifle, machine
gun, grenade, etc), hand-to-hand weapon (pick, shovel, etc), or unarmed
attack (fist, kick, etc). In each case you roll the dice, adding the relevant Ability
and Skill (if any).

For hand-to-hand fighting (with or without a weapon):

Roll dice + Strong + Skill (Blades, Bludgeon, Bruiser) = Total

For guns and artillery:

Roll dice + Clever + Skill (Artillery, Shooting) = Total

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For ranged weapons other than guns:

Roll dice + Quick + Skill (Throw) = Total

If the total beats the target’s Defence, damage is done.

Having the Advantage

Like with skill rolls, sometimes the Gamekeeper will judge that one side or
another has a natural advantage (fighting an enemy who is climbing up a
slippery slope or hindered by wire, having partial cover from ranged attacks,
etc.). The Gamekeeper can insist that one side receives a +2 Defence bonus
until they lose the advantage.

Other Actions
Instead of trying to hit someone, a character can try to move or take another
action in this part of the round. Doing any of these actions lowers the
character’s Defence by 2 for the duration of the round.

Moving
If a character isn’t in a hand-to-hand fight and wants to move, up to his or
her Move in metres, they can (instead of attacking – you don’t get to do both).
This includes moving into a hand-to-hand fight.
Obstructions may reduce Move. For example, barbed wire reduces Move to
1/10, until it is cleared – and there is an added chance of entanglement (roll
vs Quick, Target Number 6, adjusted by depth of wire).

Getting out of Hand-to-Hand Combat

If a character tries to move out of hand-to-hand fighting, they risk their
opponent getting a free attack. The opponent has a choice – take a free swing
or shot at the fleeing coward or give chase. If he or she tries to give chase,
both sides make a roll, adding their Quick. If the chaser wins, he or she catches
up, and both parties are back in hand-to-hand fighting. If the person running
away wins, he or she has escaped. If it is a draw, the chase continues next
round (unless someone gives up).

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Non-Combat Actions
Sometimes a character will want to do something, not covered by the above,
such as try to open a chest; unlock a door; untie a hostage; cut through a
patch of barbed wire; etc. The Gamekeeper determines (secretly) how long
such activities take and while the character is working on them, he or she
cannot fight back (although does still have a Defence rating, with a -2 penalty).

Quick Actions
Some actions are really quick and don’t cause the character to miss an attack
– these include things like getting out a weapon, shouting an order, etc. You
can do any one these things without a penalty.

Calculate Damage
Take the total of the hit roll and subtract the target’s Defence. Then add any
damage for the particular weapon. The result is the amount of Health the
injured party loses.
Example
Grace fires her pistol at the enemy agent. The enemy has a Defence of 3 and
Health of 6. Grace’s Player rolls a 5, adds her Clever (2) and Shooting (1), for
a total of 8. The difference is 5 (Grace’s roll to hit of 8 minus the enemy’s
Defence of 3). Grace does 5 damage, +3 for the pistol, for a total of 8 damage!
The enemy agent is no more.

Death, Dying And Recovery

All the characters the Gamekeeper controls die when their Health reaches 0.
Player’s Adventurers will also die when their Health reaches 0, unless
somebody can stabilise and heal them (using Medicine) within 3 combat
rounds.
If a character is injured, he or she will naturally heal 1 Health for every 12
hours of complete rest (in addition to any medicinal help), until his or her
Health is back up to its starting level. There are alternative healing rules in
Chapter 2, on p.63.
Note: Don’t forget that Stunt Points can be used to help avoid damage.

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Non-Lethal Damage
A character using Bruiser can decide to inflict non-lethal damage when
attacking. When non-lethal damage causes a character’s Health to drop to 0,
the character is knocked unconscious for a dice worth of minutes. Non-lethal
damage to Health recovers at the rate of 1 per hour, although the injured
party will usually feel sore and moan about his or her bruises for a few days.
A medic can also heal non-lethal damage.

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Note to Gamekeepers
There are some more rules for handling certain combat situations, called
Combat Hazards, in the Gamekeeper section of this book (see p.62).

Vehicle Combat
Vehicles (such as automobiles, motorcycles, tanks, aeroplanes, etc.) have
Strong, Quick, Health, Defence and Move scores, much like characters.
(Note: You might notice the Health, Defence and Move of vehicles aren’t
simply calculated from their Strong and Quick.)
If characters in two vehicles are fighting each other, then combat order is as
usual.
Roll Initiative, roll to hit, roll to damage, etc.
Initiative – roll a dice and add the vehicle’s + the driver’s Quick.
Roll to hit – usually using the Abilities and skills of the pilot/captain or
gunner/passenger. If the total beats the Defence of the opposing vehicle (or
occupant of that vehicle, if that is who is being aimed at), calculate damage.
The Abilities and skills used will depend on the vehicle and the weapon used.
If trying to ram (the only attack option if both vehicle and occupants lack
weaponry), the vehicle’s Quick + the driver’s Pilot (or Drive, etc.); if firing a
mounted heavy machine gun, then the pilot’s Clever + Shooting. Some

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vehicles (e.g. tanks) have inbuilt weaponry (use Clever + Artillery to fire). Each
weapon should be assigned a damage rating, if it hasn’t already got one (based
on its lethality). If ramming, vehicles generally do their Strong divided by 3 in
damage. Any vehicle involved in a collision also takes damage from the
opposing vehicle (so ramming is only usually worth it, when going against a
weaker opponent).
Calculate Damage – Add weapon’s damage (or vehicle’s Strong divided by 3,
if ramming) to the difference between the attacker’s to hit roll and the
Defence of the opposition.
Remove damage – From damaged vehicle’s Health (or driver/passenger’s
Health, if the driver/passenger was hit).
The consequences of a vehicle reaching 0 Health will vary according to the
vehicle and environment – a plane will probably crash; a ship sink; while a
train might simply grind to a halt and the driver and passengers get out.

Huge and Super Creatures

Mostly individuals can’t make a Bruiser attack against vehicles – punching a
truck won’t make it go away! So making an unarmed attack against a vehicle
is not generally allowed (armed attacks are fine, often characters will want to
shoot at the engines, aim at an opposing pilot, etc.). But you might decide to
run an alternate WW1 setting with huge or super-strong creatures and
characters, who can pack enough of a punch to bulldozer a vehicle with a fist.

Stunt Points
Stunt Points are used to perform epic combat moves, save your Adventurer
from certain death, hit a foe against the odds, etc.
Every Player starts each game session with 6 Stunt Points.
As each game session progresses, the Players play their Stunt Points to make
good things happen for their Adventurers.
It’s a good idea to spend all your Stunt Points, as they can’t be carried over
to the next game and they’ll be replaced next session!
Some of the characters run by the Gamekeeper might also have Stunt Points,
which can be used in exactly the same way as the Players’ Stunt Points. Only

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more major enemies will have them – more run-of-the-mill opposition never
have Stunt Points.
Stunt Points can be represented in the game by poker chips, or coins (real or
chocolate!), toy money, etc.

Spending Stunt Points?

Each of the following actions cost 1 Stunt Point:
● Succeed at a non-combat roll automatically – however difficult the task.
● Ignore an opponent’s Defence – no roll to hit, simply deliver a dice worth
of damage + the weapon damage to your Adventurer’s opponent’s Health.
Armour does not protect the opponent.
● Avoid damage – Turn a hit on your Adventurer into a miss.
● Avoid character death – If your Adventurer drops to 0 Health, they are
merely unconscious, not dying of a serious injury.
● Perform two attacks in one round – you can roll to hit twice instead of
once.
● Stunt Action – You can combine an attack with a stunt (climb, swing on a
chandelier or rope, run on a rolling barrel, etc.). You only need to roll to
hit, and you get to add your Strong and Quick to the dice (plus one suitable
skill if you have one, Acrobat, Climb, Blades, Bludgeon, Bruiser, Shooting,
Throw, etc.).
● To cancel an enemy’s Stunt Point – If a Player has spent a Stunt Point to
perform an action, the Gamekeeper can spend a Stunt Point (if the
character the Gamekeeper is running has one) to cancel the action.
Likewise, a Player can spend a Stunt Point to cancel a Gamekeeper’s Stunt
Point action against his or her own Adventurer.
The following actions cost 2 Stunt Points:
● Advanced Stunt Action – You can combine an attack with a stunt (climb,
swing on a chandelier or rope, run on a rolling barrel, etc.). You only need
to roll to hit, and you get to add your Strong, Quick and Clever to the dice
(plus one suitable skill if you have one, Acrobat, Climb, Blades, Bludgeon,
Bruiser, Shooter, Throw, etc.).
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● Perform three attacks in one round – you can roll to hit three times
instead of once.
The following action costs 3 Stunt Points:
● Ignore an opponent’s Defence – no roll to hit, simply deliver a dice worth
of damage, multiplied by three, to your Adventurer’s opponent’s Health.

Changing the Story (Optional)

Here is an extra way of spending Stunt Points. Check with your group to see
if they would like to add this option.
The following story change costs 1 Stunt Point:
● Minor Plot Change – Players can spend a Stunt Point to remove a minor
obstacle (avoid a patrol, solve a clue, find a different path, etc.).
The following story change costs 5 Stunt Points:
● Major Plot Change – A Player can spend 5 Stunt Points to make a major
change to events – escape the tunnels; cause a wall to collapse, covering
their retreat; cause a nearby enemy unit to be put temporarily out of
action; etc.

Equipping Your Adventurer

Every Player’s Adventurer starts with some disposable cash to spend on
equipment.
Upper Class/Wealthy: 1 dice x 1,000
Middle Class/Comfortable: 1 dice x 100
Working Class/Poor: 1 Dice x 10
The prices in OneDice WW1 are listed without the currency specified. Currency
will be according to the nation in which the goods are purchased.
For example: France – Francs; Germany – Marks; Britain – Shilling; US –
Quarter; Austro-Hungary – Krone; Russia – Ruble; Japan – Yen; etc.
In addition to equipment that they can purchase, all working class/poor
Adventurers start the game with one civilian outfit suitable to their social
station; all middle class/comfortable Adventurers with three suitable outfits
(two everyday, one for Sunday best); while all upper class/wealthy

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Historical Note
Just because something is listed below,doesn’t mean it is available at the
given price (or at all).
All nations were subject to rising prices throughout the war.
Some nations experienced more scarcity than others. For example,
Germany quickly had to shift to using artificial (ersatz) substances due to
the effective blockading of their imports – and they were forever cutting
rations. Russia was plagued by major supply problems and shortages of
absolute necessities. Meanwhile in Great Britain, although there were
food shortages and eventually rationing at home, officers were able to
order or be sent luxury hampers full of goodies throughout the war, while
private soldiers seldom went hungry through economics (though they did
sometimes suffer privations due to being cut off from supply lines,
communication problems, etc.).
As ever, the wealthy can usually secure better products and services.
Alternative bartering currencies are commonplace within all the militaries
– specifically the trade in all sorts of goods and services for decent
cigarettes.
Prices are always higher in the areas just behind the front-lines – although,
on the western front, charities and charitable individuals help troops by
sending goodwill packages with “luxuries” (soap, sweets, warm woollens,
etc.) and there is even the occasional independent front-line “shop”
(sometimes run by a chaplain, for no profit).

Adventurers begin with five+ outfits (including evening wear; outdoor wear;
etc.).
Military Adventurers also usually start with an equipment pack according to
their unit and rank – prices are not listed with this pack – they are usually
simply assigned to lower ranking recipients (who are expected to look after
them!), although officers will probably have been expected to purchase their
own uniform and equipment (and sometimes more suitable supplementary
equipment for their troops!).

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Historical Note
Each nation issued different standard equipment and uniforms to its
troops; improved its equipment at different rates and from different
starting points (e.g. the French had a lot of work to do, as their troops
started the war wearing bright red trousers and uncomfortable collars;
the Austro-Hungarian armies were likewise outdated; and, aside from the
British, most cavalry was generally unfit and ill-equipped for purpose;
etc.); and had varying degrees of supply problems at various stages of the
war.
Equipment and uniform also varied due to specialty (engineers, miners,
signallers, support, general staff, artillery, cavalry, medics, machine gun
sections, etc.), arm (air, sea or land), battalion and rank. The kit packs are
intended as only a very general guide to infantry equipment, rather than
a definitive list.

Military Equipment Kit Packs

Early War Kit: Cloth or boiled leather hat/helmet; service tunic and
greatcoat/blanket; trousers (or shorts or kilt); puttees and short boots, or long
boots; entrenching tools; haversack and/or pack (containing field rations,
utensils, spare kit, personal effects, etc.; and possibly tent section); emergency
dressings; water bottle. A rifle, bayonet and ammunition for the ranks (for
officers a pistol and a sword or baton). Assault troops might also carry coshes
or clubs, combat knives, grenades, etc.
Full Infantry Officer Kit and Mess for active service: Including mess uniform,
field uniform, mess equipment, valise, sword, pistol, spare clothing, shaving
kit, bedding, servant, and other accoutrements. Cost: 1000
Full Cavalry Officer Kit and Mess for active service: Including mess uniform,
field uniform, mess equipment, valise, sword, pistol, spare clothing, shaving
kit, bedding, horse, stabling, servant, and other accoutrements. Cost: 10,000
Later War modifications:
Makes and models of equipment were constantly being revised. Here are a
few changes to consider as the war progresses:
Uniforms become more camouflaged and practical.
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Some specialists (machine gunners and snipers) are issued rudimentary body
armour (steel breastplates or leather jerkins, etc).
Armies issue “webbing” (the British from the start) for carrying equipment
(rather than slinging it off separate belts and packs, etc.).
After 1915 troops are issued with anti-gas measures (starting with cloth pads,
then goggles and filter systems, which were eventually replaced by proper
box respirators and gas masks).
Steel helmets are supplied to most soldiers (not the Russians) towards late
1915/early 1916.

Clothing
Outfits
Aviator Clothes: Flying coat or suit, flying helmet, goggles, high boots and
gloves. Cost: 200
Cheap Suit: A cheap suit for a low-paid clerk/worker. Cost: 25
Explorer’s Clothes: An outfit suited to exploring one particular type of
environment (the jungle, extreme cold, etc.). Cost: 200+
Extravagant Outfit: The kind of fashionable outfit only worn by the rich. Cost:
200-800+
Officer Mess Uniform: Dress uniform to be worn at mess, when not in the
lines. Cost: 200
Rugged Work Clothes: Serviceable, but uninspiring, manual work clothes and
boots/clogs. Cost: 30
Sunday Best: A smart suit or dress, expensive for those tempted to buy it. Cost:
60
Items
Anti-Barbed Wire (Toughened) Gloves: Probably designed by someone who
has never been to war. Cost: 8
Anti-Gas Measures: Cloth and chemical; hood; or box respirator. Cost: 1;5;10.
(Cloth & Chemical reduces Hazard by -2; Hood reduces hazard by -4; box

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respirator negates hazard – although the wearer needs to have put their
device on in time!)
Cheap House Dress: Ill-fitting, plain and in constant need of repair. Cost: 5
Decent Worker’s Overcoat: A hard wearing coat of decent quality. Cost: 30
Woman’s Hat: An average but decent hat. Cost: 10+
Corset: Still considered essential wear for women. Cost: 10
Tailored Coat: A bespoke coat, especially designed for the wealthy wearer.
Cost: 60+
Officer Coat: A warm coat for the front. Cost: 60+
Good Boots: Waterproof boots designed for marching and working in. 20+

Accessories
Holy Book: Cost: 1+
Lucky Cigarette Case: Cost: 5+
Officer Hat: Cost: 20
Wristwatch: Cost: 5+
Cane, Hollow: Cost: 2
Cane, Knobbed: Cost: 3
Cane, Ornate: Cost: 10
Cane, Sword: Cost: 40
Cane, Periscope: Cost: 12

Other Kit
Backpack: Cost: 15
Mattress: Cost: 20
Camera: Cost: 15-200+
Fishing Kit (Basic): Cost: 5 (If there’s a source, allows a Survival skill roll, once
per day, to catch a meal’s worth of fish.)

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Fishing Kit (Advanced): Cost: 50 (If there’s a source, allows a Survival skill roll,
once per day, to catch one dice of meal’s worth of fish.)
Magnifier, Large: Cost: 5 (Adds 1 to Investigate skill rolls when looking for
small visual clues.)
Mirror, Hand: Cost: 5
Pocket Primus Stove: Cost: 10
Rope: 10 metres of strong rope. Cost: 1
Tent: A very high quality 2 person tent. Cost: 100
Torch/Lamp: Cost: 20+ for a torch. Extra dry batteries or bulbs Cost: 2 per set.
Wire Cutters: Basic, not really up to military standard. Cost: 3
Writing Kit: Cost: 3+

Travel
Flight, Airship: 15 per 100 miles.
Voyage, Ocean Liner, 1�� Class: 15 per 100 miles.
Voyage, Ocean Liner, 2ⁿ� Class: 8 per 100 miles.
Voyage, Ocean Liner, 3�� Class: 5 per 100 miles.
Journey, Steam Train, 1�� Class: 5 per 100 miles.
Journey, Steam Train, 2ⁿ� Class: 3 per 100 miles.
Journey, Steam Train, 3�� Class: 2 per 100 miles.
For outright costs of various vehicles, and more vehicle options, see p.67.

Food And Drink

Cigarettes (25): Cost: 1
Cheaper Small Food Parcel: Cost: 4-6
Luxury Food Hamper (for 6 officers): Cost: 20-40+
Luxury Mess Box (for 6 or 7 officers for one week): Cost: 80+
Luxury Booze Hamper (12 bottles): Cost: 35-50
Marmalade, Jar of: Cost: 1

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Basic (and mostly unappetising) rations (including food, cigarettes and

alcohol) are usually issued to actively serving military personnel without
charge. Iron rations, to be carried but only eaten in an emergency, are
also issued.

Loaf of Bread: Cost: 1

Cheap Meal Out: Cost: 3
Expensive Meal Out: Cost: 20+ (for Valuable style); 200+ (for Elite style).
Booze by the bottle
Brandy or Rum: 4-7
Liqueur: 6-20
Port or Sherry: 2-8
Whisky: 5-10
Beer (4 Pints): 1

Specialist Equipment
Climbing Kit: Cost: 30+ (Adds 1 to Climb skill rolls.)
Compass: Cost: 5+ (Adds 1 to Navigate skill rolls – not stackable with
Navigator’s Kit.)
Burglar Tool Set: Cost: 50 (Adds 1 to Security skill rolls – not stackable.)
Drug set: Store bought cocktail of stimulants and opiates (including morphia
patches). Cost: 10+
Medical Bag: Cost: 100 (Adds 1 to Medicine skill rolls – not stackable with
medical room bonus or drug set.)
Navigator’s Kit: Cost: 200+ (Adds 2 to Navigation skill rolls.)
Telescope/Binoculars/Periscope: Cost: 20+ (Adds 1 to rolls – Clever +
Perception – to spot something in the distance.)

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Close Combat Weapons

Weapon Damage Cost
Axe, Hatchet, Shovel 3 2+
Bayonet 2 -/5
Brass Knuckles, Knife 1 2
Cosh, Cudgel 2 1+
Dagger 2 5+
Improvised* 1 –
Sword, Fencing/Sword Cane 2 40
Sword/Officer Sword 3 20/80
Unarmed 0 0

*Chair leg, bottle, tea tray, golf club, pipe, etc.

Historical Note
At the start of the war, battalions mostly had heavy or medium machine
gun sections. After 1915, French and British infantry formations are
increasingly integrated with light machine gun sections (the Germans
didn’t adopt similar weapons/tactics till 1918 – but they did have more
heavy machine guns per battalion throughout much of the war).
It’s possible for one individual to load and fire a machine gun – but all
machine guns usually have a crew – to feed ammunition; carry the gun
and ammunition; and in case of casualties, to replace the firer. Crew size
varies, (for example, a minimum of 3 for a British medium Vickers; 4 for
a German MG 08 heavy gun), but by the end of the war, even a light
machine gun will likely be carried by a large section (e.g. a light Lewis
might be assigned to a section of 9-12 soldiers, who had to share the
weight of the gun’s ammunition).

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Guns
Weapon Damage Range* Cost
Flamethrower 5** 20 400
Machine Gun, Heavy*** 5 Damage x 5 2000 10000
Machine Gun, Light**** 4 Damage x 3 400 1500
Machine Gun, Medium*** 4 Damage x 4 2000 2000
Pistol, Heavy***** 4 40 60
Pistol, Light/Officer’s***** 3 25 20/100
Rifle 4 400****** 80
Rifle Grenade 6******* 200 100
Shotgun******** 5 10 100

*In metres.
**To all within a 2 metre radius of the impact point. One tank of gas lasts for 6 combat
rounds of continuous use.
***Must be set up to fire – can’t be carried and fired.
****Strong 3+ required for firing a lmg in a standing position.
*****Holds 6-8 bullets (depending on type). Takes full round to reload.
******Can be fired at targets 400-2000 at -2 to hit.
*******Very inaccurate and prone to misfire - so always at a -4 to hit. Damages all within a
3 radius of the impact point.
********Takes a full combat round to reload.

Ammunition
Light Ammunition: Cost: 5 for 100 rounds
Heavy Ammunition (HMG, Heavy Handgun, Shotgun): Cost:10 for 100 rounds

Weapon Modifications
Sniper Sights: Cost: 60+ Adds +1 to Shooting skill. Extends rifle range to 2,600 – but there
will still be the -2 penalty for shots beyond 400m (for an overall reduction of -1 for range
400-2,600).

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Other Ranged Weapons

Weapon Damage Range Cost
Brick 2 Sx5 -
Dagger 2 Sx2 5+
Hatchet 2 Sx2 2+
Bottle 1 Sx6 -
Knife 1 Sx1 1+
Early War/homemade Grenade 5* Sx5 3
Late War Grenade/German stick
6** Sx8 5
grenade
Rock 1 Sx3 -

S = Thrower’s Strong
*To all within a 2 radius of the impact point.
*To all within a 3 radius of the impact point.

Explosives And Artillery

In OneDice WW1 explosives and artillery are dealt with using the rules on p.62 in the
GameKeeper chapter.

Protective Clothing
Clothing Defence Quick Cost
Very light – Helmet (post-1915/16), leather
+1 - 10+
jerkin, etc.
Light – Helmet, breast plate, jerkin, and
+1/+2* -1 10+
other padding.

*+1 vs most attacks and hazards/+2 vs close combat melee attacks and thrown
weapons (other than grenades).
Very light and light clothing don’t stack. Few soldiers wear light armour – but
occasionally specialists and assault troops do – all Quick rolls when wearing
“light” armour are at -1 due to the cumbersome nature of such an outfit.

Finishing Touches
If you haven’t picked a name for your Adventurer, do so now.
Also, give your Adventurer 6 Stunt Points, ready for the first game session.

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Now is the time to make a few notes, if you want to, about your Adventurer’s
personality (kind, mean, greedy, happy-go-lucky, etc.) and earlier life (family,
previous job, criminal past, etc.).
You should also decide how old your Adventurer is (usually somewhere
between 17-28 years old).

Experience and Levels

As your Adventurer’s complete missions they learn new skills and increase
their abilities.
In game terms, this means the Gamekeeper will award you Experience for
good roleplaying and for your Adventurer reaching adventure goals and
defeating foes. You need to always keep track of the total Experience you have
been given.
When your Adventurer gets enough Experience, he or she will go up levels.
Your Adventurer might gain some new things at each level:
Ability Points – You can spend these to increase Strong, Clever or Quick.
Remember, your Adventurer’s Health, Defence or Move might also rise as a
result of this increase.
Health – Increases your total health.
Skill Points – To increase a skill your Adventurer already has or to learn a new
one.
All Player Adventurers begin at 1�� Level. The Experience you need to increase
your Adventurer’s level, and the rewards for doing so, are as follows:

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Level Ability Points Health Skill Points Experience

1 0
2 +1 150
3 +1 300
4 +1 600
5 +1 1500
6 +1 3000
7 +1 6000
8 +1 10,000
9 +1 15,000
10 +1 22,000
11 +2 +1 30,000+

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Gamekeeper
Section

This chapter is designed to help Gamekeepers to run OneDice WW1.

Then there’s a brief look at running games, including tips on style and running
adventures set during the Great War.
Next is a look at the setting for your OneDice WW1 games. This section
contains a few historical notes – but it is not designed to be a comprehensive
history lesson about either the era or the conflict. Instead, it’s intended to
help give some flavour to your games. Further detailed background
information is provided in the Appendices (p.88-103), at the back of the book,
to supplement this section.
Then there are a few more rules covering how to handle hazards and award
Experience.
Finally there is a list of vehicles and some sample Gamekeeper controlled
characters.

Game Styles
Are you thinking of running a single adventure or a longer campaign?
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Single adventures are designed to be played over one or two sessions. They
only have a few scenes, a few tasks (e.g. carry out a trench raid; investigate
the suspected spy; photograph the secret weapon) and only one or two twists.
Campaigns usually run over several sessions and often consist of a number
of “chapters”. Each chapter might have several scenes (or one big scene), and
often there are side-goals (e.g. stealing some secret plans or recruiting some
local allies) that need to be achieved along the way to telling a much bigger
story (e.g. Carry out a trench raid to take a certain prisoner; find out about
the secret weapon the enemy are developing; get behind enemy lines and
locate the secret base; infiltrate the base, steal the plans and destroy the
prototype; get back home and hand over the plans which might change the
course of the whole war).

Warning!
Whatever style you choose, story-planning is needed – if you just make
it up as you go along, it can easily fizzle out. You need to have some idea
of where the game might go, and some ideas for grand finales.

Do your Players want to follow an exciting trail or leave the path whenever
they want?
Plotted adventures have a structure, much like a book or a war movie, and
the players are taken through a number of scenes leading to an exciting grand
finale.
Sandbox adventures do not start off with a predetermined plot – the Games
Master decides on a few themes, some locations (say a section of the front,
or/and a single town and a couple of villages behind the lines) and a number
of characters and lets the story go where it will.

Stories
What style of adventure your players would enjoy?
Lots of fighting? Investigating a mystery or involving themselves in diplomatic
intrigue? A romantic adventure or a lots of pulp-style action? A long journey
and a multitude of exotic locales? Or a whole series of stories linked to one
location? They’ll probably appreciate a mixture – and as long as there are

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plenty of opportunities for heroics, betrayal and discovery, you’ll be on the

right track.

Recurring Characters
Every hero needs a nemesis, and in OneDice WW1 there are plenty to choose
from. There are bumbling generals, who think nothing for the safety of others;
corrupt arms dealers and profiteers, who want to make a buck cutting corners
and selling duds; enemy spies or aces; sadistic sergeants and drunken officers;
murderers, thugs and the downright criminally insane – and that’s just for
starters! As well as enemies, there should be plenty of allies to choose from
– and sometimes an ally can become an enemy, or vice versa.
Whatever the circumstances, and whether friend or foe, recurring characters
often make a story stronger and a final victory sweeter.

Scale of Opposition
When designing adventures, Gamekeepers should always take account of the
abilities of the Players’ Adventurers compared to the opposition they are
going to face. If the Players’ Adventurers are always confronted with weak
opposition, the game will quickly get boring; likewise, it will become
frustrating if they are faced with overwhelming opposition (against whom
they have no chance of winning). Check that creatures are selected for your
adventure that can be beaten (whether by overcoming their Defence, use of
Stunt Points, or some other logical weakness, etc.). Gamekeeper controlled
characters do not have to be designed in the same way as Player’s characters
– you can simply assign them Health and Defence scores, rather than base
their Health and Defence on their Strong and Quick, and likewise you can
boost or reduce their skills to keep the game balanced.

Pulp or Grim?
Pulp Games: OneDice WW1 lends itself well to pulp action – where larger
than life heroes engage in investigations, exploration, daring actions and other
gripping adventures. In pulp games, the Adventurers will be unlikely tied to
one location (for long) or the grinding war of attrition that provides the
backdrop to their story – they are more likely to be globe-trotting independent
souls – specialist scientists, private investigators, archaeologists, explorers,
and the like, dedicated to uncovering new treasures and foiling dastardly plots.
That is not to say that the war won’t be a constant thread, woven through

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their tales – it is likely that the enemy will employ their own specialists, along
with military back up – to steal treasures or undertake plots of their own!
Note: For more pulpy gaming, it is worth considering allowing starting
characters an extra couple of Skill Points; and allowing a higher allocation of
Stunt Points to be given at the start of each game session.
Grim and Gritty Games: In a more grim and gritty games, the on the ground
themes of the time will be more likely to come to the fore – death, destruction,
disease and hardship. The Adventurers will still be at the heart of the action,
and still tasked with undertaking difficult missions. Whether they are high up
diplomats and generals, or a lowly section of infantry, they’ll still have a story
to be told – but the action (and the limits of their abilities) will be more
realistic.
The game style you choose should suit the players you are running the game
for. Many gaming groups will want to play a more pulpy game, where their
Adventurers stand apart from the crowd – playing the kind of heroes who
have the ability to make a difference to the larger narrative. But your players
might embrace the challenge of working as a small team embroiled in a larger
conflict, directed to carry out some of the small tasks and operations that are
necessary as part of the war effort or civilian life. Either way, there is plenty
of adventure to be had.

Behind the Lines or Front-line

Perhaps the biggest decision you have to make is whether you are going to
set your games behind the lines or near to and at the front-line.
Behind the lines games: Behind the lines games offer the Players a good mix
of Adventurer types to choose from – military and non-military. They might
still have a role in the war, but they are not confined to the conflict, and may
work in occupations that have no military role at all – as detectives, criminals,
explorers, etc. Or they might be directly involved in the war effort, as soldiers,
photographers, spies, medical staff, diplomats, general staff, etc. – but not
stationed at the front.
Front-line games: Front-line games are based at the heart of the conflict. The
Adventurers are likely to be involved in tours of front-line duty; time spent in
the rear, resting, recuperating and acting as reserves; rare but occasional
home leave; and specialist military missions. The Adventurers are likely all

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members of one unit – an infantry section; an officer’s mess; a team of
signallers, tunnellers, or sappers; the staff of a first aid post; pilots in a military
air force; etc. One tour in the trenches could form the basis of a whole
campaign, involving night-time raids, wiring patrols, defending against an
attack, taking part in an assault, etc. The hazards might be mostly military –
but there is also plenty of opportunity to develop other characters for the
Adventurers to interact with – the panic stricken; the hopeless leader or
comrade; the tough experienced veteran; the boy soldier or the elderly
volunteer.
It is possible to combine the two styles – most of the game taking place behind
the lines, but an individual mission involving some action at or near to the
front. Likewise, the war might just come to the behind the lines Adventurers
– as the enemy rapidly and unexpectedly sweep through the countryside. As
ever, the prime consideration when deciding on the focus of your game is
choosing what type of game you want to run and that your Players would
enjoy playing.

The Great War

The Great War raged from 1914-1918. Not all the combatant countries were
involved from start to finish. There is a timeline of the conflict and some
information on the combatant nations on p.88.

Another Way
There follows a very brief overview of the Great War, military hazards and
trench life.
But it is perfectly possible to run your OneDice WW1 games in a different
way – either as part of an alternate history or even by running your own
version of the war in an entirely fantastical setting.
Additionally, included in the back of the book, there are some “Skins” –
to be used to add fantasy elements to your games. Remember, there is
nothing to stop Gamekeepers developing skins of their own, to make
OneDice WW1 power their own version of an imaginary war.

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The Modern World
The Great War comes at a time of immense change – the pivotal point
between the industrial revolution and the modern world.
Technology is undergoing rapid progression. The workers of the world are
increasingly demanding a share of the increasing prosperity which
characterised the largely peaceful pre-war era – sweeping away the last
vestiges of feudalism in the poorer nations, and organising in large labour
unions in the more industrialised countries. Men and women are beginning
to fight for a political and social voice.
The wealthy, meanwhile, are fascinated by modern fashions (which are
increasingly informal, compared to those of the era that came before) and
new forms of leisure, travel (such as on the huge passenger liners) and
shopping (in the increasingly modern department stores).
Motor cars have only been available to buy for a generation, and mass
production only began a few years before the beginning of the war. The
replacement of civilian horse-drawn buses by motorised buses is a very new
development in the more modern cities of the world. By the end of the war
motorised transport will have taken its place alongside the traditional
horse-drawn transports in more modern armies, although train transports for
longer journeys and horse or march journeys for the final trek to the front
were still the order of the day.
From a combat view armoured cars are mostly useless (as wheeled vehicles
struggle to move at all, away from well maintained and debris free roads);
but motorcycles are used by couriers throughout the war and motorcycles
equipped with machine gun mounted side-cars and cyclist infantry are used
later in the war, as the front becomes more mobile.
Aeroplanes are an even newer invention and, although still extremely
dangerous and unreliable, by the end of the war their designs will be
revolutionised – capable of greater speeds, manoeuvrability and higher
altitudes – playing an essential part in reconnaissance, bombing and fighting.
Tanks were only invented during the conflict – and, as unreliable and
dangerous to the operators as they are, they play a decisive part in several
battles.

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Ship technology has also only recently advanced – but at a cost to utility –
the new dreadnoughts are such a big and prestigious investment that risking
their loss is often too much for nations to contemplate – only a brave High
Admiral will risk a nation’s fleet on the open sea. While the British have
enough ships to blockade the Germans, the Germans use submarines
(U-Boats) to sink allied shipping – about half the food and supplies transported
by the British Merchant Navy are lost to the underwater menace and
expensive fighting ships are vulnerable to being sunk by the cheaper U-Boats
and, even cheaper, naval mines. Eventually convoys, aerial advances and early
sonar reduce the losses – but the material and human cost of U-Boats and
mines to the various nations is immense.
Trains have a longer history, but are still relatively new – more efficient train
networks and time tabling allows troops to be rushed from one front to
another in a relatively short time.
Wireless along with earlier wired technology has revolutionised
communications. It is possible to communicate across ever larger distances.
From a military point of view, radio and field telephones are somewhat
unreliable; telephone and telegraph wires need constant repairs; and radio
sets are large and difficult to carry – but the ability to quickly get information
to and from the battlefield, without being solely dependent on runners, and
to be able to instantly order artillery fire and direct reinforcements, etc., is a
step towards modern command and control. In the later years of the war,
with aircraft crew able to use radio technology to communicate, and smaller
wireless units, quick reaction to reconnaissance reports becomes even easier.
Medicine has at its disposal better drugs; better techniques for combating
infections; transfusions; x-rays and developments in prosthetics,
reconstructions and other major surgeries. While antibiotics are still a way
off, a more modern understanding of germicides and cleanliness at least gives
some patients a fighting chance (although many wounds still can’t be
effectively treated and military medics are often forced to abandon the most
severely wounded to die, in order to treat those who might have a hope of
survival).
Balloons were used for civilian flight, but during the war most of the
combatant nations employ them for observation. They can be floated up
behind friendly lines, giving observers a great view of the battlefield below.

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Fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft guns are deployed to protect the observers,
but some air aces enjoy the challenge of taking down enemy balloons. Unlike
other aviators, balloon crews are equipped with life-saver parachutes.
German Zeppelins are rigid motorised airships, with enough of a range to
attack faraway targets and enough of a storage capacity to carry tons of
bombs. Although their effectiveness is variable, and they are vulnerable to
ground-fire (and increasingly at risk from enemy aircraft), they do undertake
successful raids and have an improving effect on German morale (and a
negative psychological effect on enemy morale).

A Global Affair
In the years preceding the war, the great nations of Europe were locked into
an arms race, preparing for conflict – yet few realised how lengthy, global and
devastating the conflict would become.
In Europe the main fronts are to the west – where Belgium, France, Great
Britain and colonial and allied troops fight against Germany and her allies;
and in the east, where Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and
the Bulgarians face Russia, Serbia and Italy.
Outside Europe there are other battle fronts – and colonial nations and other
allies from far and wide send troops to fight for the great European powers.

The Western Front

In the west, following appalling losses in the opening months of the war,
fortifications and entrenchments are built across the entire front-line; millions
of men will be killed or injured going “over the top” – leaving their trenches
en masse and assaulting the enemy directly, in the face of artillery and
machine gun fire, through the muddy shell-hole littered chaos of no man’s
land. Millions more will be killed or wounded by the grinding attrition caused
by frequent shelling, sniping, poison gas, disease, drowning and a myriad of
other ways to die for one’s country.

The Eastern Front

On the eastern front, although the fighting is more fluid, and in some ways
more traditional, modern weaponry, along with the vast size of the front and
the vast size of the armies fighting on it, means the massive offensives and
counter offensives are hugely costly.
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Other Theatres of Conflict

Although the bulk of the fighting occurs in Europe, there are conflicts across
Africa and the Middle East. Elsewhere, others take up arms, declaring their
allegiance for one side or another, as an excuse to forward territorial and
military ambitions.

The Home Front

If playing a front-line game, the home front may still be of some consequence
– the source of letters from loved ones, valuable packages of extra supplies,
intrigue during rare home leave, etc. But in a behind the lines game, the home
front might be of even more significance – either as an occasionally visited
destination or as the base for the whole game.
At the outset, most of the home civilian populations believed the war would
be over quickly. Patriotic fervour swept many of the combatant nations, and
expectations were high. As the war goes on, and the casualty lists grow, the
civilian population becomes more war-weary.
The conditions on the home front are often hard – with malnutrition, disease
pandemics, rationing, possible bombing raids, civil and industrial unrest, the
imprisonment of conscientious objectors, etc., commonplace.
But life goes on – and for some it even improves. Women occupy employment
roles which they had previously been barred from – and simultaneously many
have turned their backs on their old lot, refusing to take domestic service
roles or to stay at home.
News-reels in flea pit cinemas, newspapers, and official photographer and
press officers, whilst generally treading the line between patriotic propaganda
and reality, keep the masses informed to a certain extent, and can even change
unpopular government or military policy.

Life In The Trenches

The entire western front is covered in a vast network of trenches, running
from the Belgian coast in the north, all the way down to the Swiss border in
the south.

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In the daytime little activity can be undertaken in the open, without running
grave risks – so the daylight is a time of boredom and repetitive maintenance
(refilling sandbags, straightening duck-boards, etc.).
It is at night time that most activity takes place – wiring and raiding parties
are sent out, entrenchments are repaired and extended, supplies and
replacement troops are sent forward, etc. Everything has to be done quietly,
and there is always the risk of being lit up by flares, bombardment, small arms
and machine gun fire, etc.
At times a local truce might prevail, both sides content to live and let live
awhile, but before long an over-zealous officer will come along, or a more
combative unit will take over the section, and hostilities intensify once more.
As well as the myriad of combat hazards, such as gas, artillery fire (the biggest
killer), sniping and surprise attacks – there are many other sources of misery
– the constant itching and trench fever caused by the lice; the rats that nibble
ones feet while asleep, despoil the rations and feed on the corpses; disease;
mud so deep that it can suck one under the ground to a death by drowning;
the loss of close comrades; hunger as supplies are cut off; the cold; the stink
of the shallow graves, exposed corpses and the over-flowing latrines; etc.

No Man’s Land
No man’s land is the area between the front-line trenches of the two sides.
No man’s land might be just a short stretch between the two sides, as little
as 50 yards in width; or up to a mile wide. Most of no man’s land is quickly
reduced to mud, shell holes, and wire, usually littered with the corpses of the
fallen. Parties are often sent out into no man’s land at night – to capture some
prisoners; to strengthen or cut through barbed wire; etc. Sometimes they
come back.

Over The Top

The order to attack means leaving the trenches and going over the top, across
no man’s land, towards the enemy trenches. Assaulting troops are usually at
a great disadvantage, moving through the open, on difficult ground, often
with uncut barbed wire entanglements still in place. Often assaults don’t even
make it as far as the enemy lines, and when they do, often a counter attack
negates any successes gained.

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For a long time the generals hoped that a well directed bombardment and
temporary numerical superiority might carry an army forward, and that the
cavalry might be able to exploit the gap and turn a flank. Whether large scale
generalised assaults throughout a sector, or small scale assaults designed to
gain a local advantage, the momentum is inevitably lost in the face of a
well-dug in enemy.
As the war progresses on the western front, tactics change – the setting of
underground explosives; creeping bombardments (which troops follow close
behind); smaller independent units – small sections (of 12ish) become the
operational unit, rather than the larger company (of 100ish); shock troops
and infiltration tactics; tanks; and gas ‒ were all developed to provide the
shock needed to make a breakthrough.
However, well dug-in defenders usually survived and were able to pour fire
onto attacking infantry. Surprise was often lost due to enemy reconnaissance,
the predictability of an assault after a heavy bombardment or long troop build
up, and sheer incompetence. Despite the fruitlessness of many attacks,
launched at dawn when the enemy was on high alert and against virtually
intact lines, there is always the pressure to try – if only to take the heat off
another sector or to attempt to fulfil some hopelessly optimistic and
unrealistic orders from on high.

Contact
At times an attacking force does reach the enemy trenches, and might even
break through into the support lines beyond. Hand to hand trench fighting is
vicious – as troops battle to keep possession of their trench. Grenades are
used to clear out the trench ahead and the dugouts below. Sometimes
prisoners might be taken, sometimes they won’t; the combatants too angry,
frenzied, or pressured, to show mercy. Counter attacks are inevitable – and,
if successful, the attackers might be forced back into no man’s land, to be
mown down or to hide in a shell hole and await nightfall. If the counter attack
unsuccessful, the front is reorganised, as the defenders block off their
communications trenches and organise the new lines.

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Extra Rules
This section outlines some extra rules for handling the action in OneDice
WW1.

Hazards
Most hazards in OneDice WW1 can be handled through asking for a
straightforward skill check. If you want to see if a character can get out of a
smoky room, you can ask for a roll (perhaps adding Strong, if they are going
to just try to walk through the smoke, or Quick, if they are making a dash for
it, to the roll). The difficulty should be adjusted by the scale of the threat – a
large raging inferno is harder to escape than a small blaze.
To help you judge the level of hazard and the possible consequences of failure,
check this table:

Difficulty/Target Number
Hazard Damage Examples
to avoid
Small fire, weak poison,
1 Dice divided by 2 falling up to a metre,
Minor Mild, 3
(round down) hitting thumb with a
hammer.
Moderate poison, falling up
Moderate Challenging, 6 1 Dice to three metres, hitting
hand with chisel.
Strong poison, falling up to
1 Dice multiplied by
Major Very Difficult, 10 7 metres, caught in a
2
collapsing building.
Falling into a volcano,
1 Dice multiplied by deadly poison, falling over
Deadly Near Impossible, 12+
3+ 7 metres, squashed by a
falling city.

As usual, offer Defence bonuses or penalties (+2/-2) if there are other factors
that might make a difference to the outcome for the character.

Combat Hazards
Some combat situations should be handled with the Hazards rules, rather
than the combat rules in Chapter 1. Gas, artillery, generalised fire from an
enemy front, are all of a scale that they are best treated as a Combat Hazard

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– skill rolls (Trench Lore, Quick, etc.) should made using the table below to
determine the effects of Combat Hazards.
GameKeepers should decide on how many rolls to ask for (so some hazards
might be present for a number of rounds, such as incoming machine gun fire;
while others might be avoided with one roll, such as a short bombardment).
Bonuses and penalties should be applied as usual (Are the characters in cover?
Are they taking evasive action? Are they walking slowly or zig-zagging,
crawling or moving in short dashes? Do they have protective anti-gas
equipment? Etc.) and Stunt Points can be used for lucky escapes.

Difficulty/Target
Hazard Damage Examples
Number to avoid
A small single shell; The whiff of
gas, just before it disperses;
1 Dice divided by 2
Minor Mild, 3 Speculative small arms fire,
(round down)
hurriedly shot towards a strong
position.
A light bombardment against a
fortified position; An irritant gas;
Moderate Challenging, 6 1 Dice
Aimed and sustained small arms
fire against a fortified position.
A heavy bombardment; A deadly
1 Dice multiplied by
Major Very Difficult, 10 gas; Assaulting an enemy trench
2
while being fired upon.
At the epicentre of a huge
explosion; in the middle of a cloud
1 Dice multiplied by of deadly concentrated gas, with
Deadly Near Impossible, 12+
3+ no protective equipment; Stuck
on the wire in the daylight in front
of an intact enemy position.

Deadlier Damage
The standard recovery rules (p.32) allow a stabilised patient to recover Health
at the rate of 1 point every 12 hours, after an initial larger amount of healing
(to bring the Adventurer above 0).
If you want deadlier damage rules, then Adventurers taken to 0 Health or
below will have to spend more time recovering.

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The initial Medicine roll (Target Number 6 – adjusted at the Gamekeeper’s
discretion) is required simply to stabilise the patient – a roll of 1, even if a
success, means the patient can’t be saved unless a Stunt Point is spent.
A second roll is made at the end of 24 hours (again, Target Number 6 –
adjusted at the Gamekeeper’s discretion), which restores 1 point of Health if
successful. A failure other than a 1 means the process will have to repeated
after another 24 hours. Again, if a 1 is rolled a Stunt Point will be required to
save the Adventurer.
Finally another roll is made at the end of the first week (Target Number 8 –
adjusted at the Gamekeeper’s discretion) – if successful, healing will begin at
the normal rate of 1 point every 12 hours; if a failure, another week will pass
before the roll can be attempted again, and the consequences will be the
same.
Some wounds will be obvious – if a gas attack, then the lungs and skin might
be damaged; but for others you might want to roll to see where the worst
injury is located: 1 – Head; 2 – Body; 3 – Left Arm; 4 – Right Arm; 5 – Left Leg;
and 6 – Right Leg. If feeling particularly mean, you could require a roll if the
damage is to a limb – on a 1, the limb will need to be amputated.

Less Deadly Damage

Conversely, if you want to play OneDice WW1 as a pure pulp game (see p.52)
then you might want Adventurers to be the type of people that simply make
lucky escapes, while all around them are not so lucky. You could judge that
when Adventurers reach 0, they are merely stunned or knocked out.
If you want to represent this in your games, then when a character reaches
0 Health they should be considered unconscious rather than dead, and will
regain consciousness when the scene ends, or by spending a Stunt point.
When they recover they get back half their Health.

Mooks and Minions

Again, if wanting to run a more pulpy game, you might decide that standard
enemy troops are no match for the Adventurers, except in overwhelmingly
large numbers. If so, then treat them as mooks.
Mooks have only 2 states - unhurt and out of the fight. A single blow that
beats their Defence threshold takes them out. When you’re fighting a single

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mook, it doesn’t really matter what weapon you have - any hit takes down
the mook.
Mooks do not have Abilities or Skills. Instead they have Combat, and
Everything Else. These numbers are what you add to the 1d6 roll to resolve
tasks for them. The Combat rating is used for all types of combat, and the
Everything Else rating is used.... for everything else!
Ordinary Mooks have Combat 3, inept Mooks have Combat 2 and dangerous
Mooks have Combat 4 (or higher).
Ordinary Mooks have Everything Else 3, stoopid Mooks have Everything Else
2, and specialist Mooks have Everything Else 4 (or higher).
As Mooks have no abilities, their Move and Defence are figured differently.
Ordinary Mooks have a Move of 20, slow Mooks have a move of 10, and fast
Mooks have a Move of 30.
Ordinary Mooks have a Defence of 6, weak Mooks have a Defence of 3, and
tough Mooks have a Defence of 9.
Mooks do not use armour and weapons like ordinary characters, this should
simply be reflected in their Abilities.
Mooks often fight in groups. If a character is fighting more than one mook,
you can speed up combat by using these rules:
The mooks attack as a single group, with only one roll. They get a +1 to their
attack for every two mooks in the group.
When the Adventurer attacks, on a successful hit add weapon damage as
usual, but take out a mook for every 2 you beat their Defence by. So, for
example, if you beat the Defence by 1 or 2, you take out 1 mook. If you beat
the Defence by 3 or four, you take out two mooks, and so on. This does not
necessarily mean they are dead, but they are out of the fight.

Awarding Experience
Experience is usually awarded at the end of each game session.
You might want to award Experience for the following:

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Good roleplay: 10-20 Experience multiplied by the Adventurer’s current Level

Defeating Characters: Characters usually have an Experience amount listed

– any Adventurer who was in a fight with the character (and won) gets
Experience. Total the Experience of all characters defeated and divide by the
number of Player’s Adventurers who were in the battle.

Solving/Reaching a Minor Adventure Goal: 20-30 Experience

Example
Undertaking a small local mission; Capturing the enemy spy and finding the
documents in his or her possession.

Solving/Reaching a Major Adventure Goal: 50-100 Experience

Example
Taking part in a long battle; Searching every location in the enemy’s secret
facility and defeating various guards, disarming some cunning traps, stealing
their secret plans, and successfully escaping.

Solving/Reaching the end of a Campaign: 200-300 Experience

Example
Taking part in a whole military campaign; Discovering the enemy are
developing a secret weapon which will change the entire course of the war,
stealing the plans for the weapon, stealing a plane and flying back to friendly
territory, mounting a successful attack on an enemy manufacturing site and
finding a way to destroy the secret weapon forever.

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Vehicles
All the vehicles in OneDice WW1 are presented in this format:

Vehicle Type, S (Strong), Q (Quick), H (Health), D (Defence), Mv (Move), Cr

(Optimum Number of Crew/Passengers if relevant)

Remember: Only another vehicle, capable of making an attack, can attack

a vehicle (and Huge creatures or supers, if they exist in your version of the
game) – individuals can’t (although they they can attack individual opposing
crew members/passengers/drivers/pilots, etc., if they get the chance – early
pilots might well attack each other with pistols!). Vehicle scores are simply
not on the same scale as character scores.

Land Transport
Small Armoured Car: S 6 Q 2 H 14 D 8 Mv 45 Cr 4 Break Down: Fails on a 1;
roll to start, then roll after every hour.
Often armed with one or two machine guns. Unable to go off road.
Bicycle: S 2 Q 5 H 3 D 4 Mv 40 Cr 1
Truck: S 5 Q 5 H 9 D 6 Mv 35 Cr 1/9 Break Down: Fails on a 1; roll to start,
then roll every day.
Unable to go off road.
Motor Car: S 4 Q 6 H 7 D 7 Mv 55 Cr 1/4-6 Break Down: Fails on a 1; roll to
start, then roll every day.
Unable to go off road.
Motor Cycle: S 3 Q 7 H 7 D 5 Mv 50 Cr 1/1
Motor Cycle and Sidecar: S 3 Q 5 H 9 D 5 Mv 45 Cr 1/2
Sidecars might be fitted with a machine gun, operated by the passenger.
Tank, British, Early: S 7 Q 1 H 18 D 9 Mv 5 Cr 8+ Break Down: Fails on a 1-3;
roll to start, then roll every half hour.
1916, early heavy British tank armed with either field guns or machine guns,
or both.

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Tank, British, Later: S 7 Q 1 H 18 D 11 Mv 8 Cr 8+ Break Down: Fails on a 1-2;
roll to start, then roll every hour.
1917, British tank, armed with either 2 light field guns and 2 machine guns,
or 5 machine guns.
Tank, German: S 8 Q 1 H 20 D 11 Mv 5 Cr 18+ Break Down: Fails on a 1-4; roll
to start, then roll every half hour.
1918 heavy German tank mounted with field guns and machine guns – but
firing is at -2 on all but the most even ground; and -4 if moving. Cannot move
over soft ground.

Aerial
Biplane, Early S 5 Q 4 H 9 D 9 Mv 60 Cr 2
Used for reconnaissance and bombing. Later models are armed with a
machine gun.
Biplane, Later S 6 Q 6 H 12 D 10 Mv 100 Cr 1
Armed with twin machine guns.
Monoplane, Early S 6 Q 5 H 11 D 10 Mv 75 Cr 1
Used for reconnaissance and bombing. Later models are armed with a
machine gun.
Triplane, Late S 6 Q 4 H 13 D 9 Mv 90 Cr 1
Armed with a machine gun.
Bomber, Late S 6 Q 4 H 16 D 8 Mv 85 Cr 2+
Carries 6+ large bombs. Some models fitted with a rear machine gun.
Zeppelin, Large Military S 3 Q 2 H 25 D 8 Mv 50 Cr 8+/10
Capable of carrying a large payload of bombs.

Sea
Liner, S 10 Q 3 H 30 D 8 Mv 50 Cr 300/1000
Unarmed
Battleship, S 14 Q 2 H 50 D 12 Mv 60 Cr 700-1,500+

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Heavy Guns, Medium Guns, Torpedo Tubes + Late War Anti-Aircraft Gun and
more Light Guns.
Destroyer, S 6 Q 3 H 20 D 9 Mv 55 Cr 50+
Medium Gun(s)
Light Cruiser, S 10 Q 4 H 25 D 10 Mv 60 Cr 250+
Medium and Light Guns
Minesweeper, S 9 Q 2 H 30 D 10 Mv 40 Cr 50+
Light Guns
Merchant, Armed, S 8 Q 2 H 25 D 9 Mv 40 Cr 50+
Medium or Light Guns
Rowboat, Small S 1 Q 2 H 6 D 3 Mv 10 Cr 1 or 2
Rowboat, Medium S 2 Q 2 H 6 D 4 Mv 15 Ca 0 Cr 1-14
U-Boat, S 8 Q 4 H 15 D 10 Mv 40 Cr 25-60+
Torpedoes, Deck Gun

Sample Gamekeeper Characters

The following characters are templates to be used by the Gamekeeper to
populate his or her world. This list is by no means exhaustive, and
Gamekeepers are encouraged to adjust the statistics for variety and add their
own unique characters. Unlike Adventurers, Gamekeeper controlled
characters’ Health and Defence scores do not have to be derived from their
Strong and Quick.
Aristocrat, Dilettante S 2, C 2, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Art 1, Craft 1, Lore 1,
Language 2, Riding 1, Shooting 1 X 15
Black Marketeer S 2, C 3, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Trade 4, Negotiate 4,
Perception 2, Dodgy 5 X 40
City Trader S 1, C 3, Q 2, H 3, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Trade 4 X 15
Clerk, Junior S 1, C 2, Q 2, H 3, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Negotiate 1, Perception 1 X 10
Clerk, Senior S 2, C 2, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Negotiate 2, Perception 2,
Psychology 1 X 18

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Criminal, Thief S 2, C 2, Q 3, H 6, D 8, Mv
30, Sk Security 3, Perception 2, Blades 1,
Pickpocket 3, Sneaky 3 X 50
Criminal, Thug S 4, C 1, Q 2, H 10, D 8, Mv
20, Sk Bludgeon 2, Bruiser 3, Dodgy 2,
Intimidate 2, Shooting 1 X 70
Criminal, Mob Boss S 3, C 3, Q 2, H 10, D
10, Mv 20, Sk Command 2, Intimidate 3,
Bludgeon 2, Bruiser 3, Dodgy 4, Shooting
2 X 100
Doctor S 2, C 4, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk
Medicine 3, Psychology 1, Negotiate 1,
Perception 1 X 25
Factory Boss S 2, C 2, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv
20, Sk Negotiate 2, Intimidate 4, Trade 3
X 40
Factory Worker S 2, C 2, Q 1, H 6, D 6, Mv
10, Sk Bludgeon 1, Engineering 1 X 20
Infantry, Elite S 3, C 3, Q 3, H 9, D 9, Mv 30, Sk Bludgeon 3, Shooting 3, Bruiser
3, Intimidate 3, Throw 3 X 80
Infantry, Grunt S 2, C 2, Q 2, H 7, D 7, Mv 10, Sk Bludgeon 2, Shooting 2,
Bruiser 2, Intimidate 2, Throw 2 X 40
Infantry, Officer S 3, C 3, Q 3 H 9, D 9, Mv 30, Sk Blades 3, Command 2,
Shooting 3, Bruiser 3, Intimidate 3, Throw 3 X 120
Infantry, Reservist S 2, C 1, Q 1 H 6, D 6, Mv 10, Sk Bludgeon 1, Shooting 1,
Bruiser 1 X 15
Partisan S 2, C 2, Q 2, H 7, D 8, Mv 20, Sk Survival 2, Shooting 2, Bruiser 2,
Sneaky 3, Dodgy 2 X 45
Shopkeeper S 2, C 2, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Craft 1, Dodgy 2, Trade 3 X 18
Spy S 3, C 3, Q 3, H 9, D 9, Mv 20, Sk Bludgeon 2, Shooting 2, Bruiser 1,
Perception 3, Security 3, Languages 1 X 50

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Skins

What are skins?

Skins are a few simple notes to help play OneDice WW1 with one or more
extra features.
What aren’t they?
The skins in the following section are not detailed alternate settings – the
intention is to provide some quick and very general rule ideas, rather than a
complete guide.

Skin One – Horror/Occult

This skin is designed to mix horror and occult themes with the OneDice WW1
setting. If the conflict weren’t horrific enough, in this skin there are secret
agents, cultists and scientists, working to use occult entities to their side’s
advantage. Or, perhaps, horrific manifestations and entities are simply
becoming more commonplace – as the death toll mounts, the veil between
the living and the dead is weakening, and undead or cosmic horrors are
slipping into the living world, adding to the havoc.

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Extra Skills
You might want to consider the following extra skills, for the Adventurers or
their occult opposition:
Occult (Clever) – Good at knowing about the occult and occultish creatures.
Exorcism (Clever) – Good at knowing about the undead and, where possible,
conducting rituals to exorcise them.
Exorcism works as an opposed skill test. Creatures that can be exorcised have
a Resist Exorcism skill. If the Exorcist wins, the creature receives 1 dice worth
of damage. If the creature wins, it is able to ignore the exorcist (or do 1 dice
of damage to the exorcist, if the Gamekeeper is feeling harsh!).
Weird/Occult Science (Clever) – Good at researching and conducting weird
and occultish science.

Extra Professions/NPC Professions

Cultist (Any) – Occult 2
A worshipper of horrors.
Occult Scientist (Middle/Upper) – Occult 1, Occult Science 1
A dabbler in arcane and occultish practices.

Horror Creatures
Ghost S - C Varies (1-5) Q 4 H 6 D 6 Mv 40 Sk Resist Exorcism 3 Sp
Invulnerability*, X 100
*Ghosts can only be harmed by exorcism.
The lingering spirits of the departed. Ghosts can walk through walls. They can
sometimes manipulate small familiar objects (although, unlike poltergeists,
they cannot throw them).
Ghoul S 3 C 2 Q 2 H 9 D 8 Mv 20 Sk Bite 2 (Damage 3) Sp Paralysing Bite* X
40
* A successful bite attack causes the victim to be paralysed for 1 dice of
rounds.
Cursed, cannibalistic people.

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Monstrous Construct S 8 C 3 Q 3 H 24 D 11 Mv 20 Sk Bruiser 3, Intimidate 4,

X 350
Frankenstein Monster style constructs, who might have a horrible habit of
running amuck, and killing people on all sides of the conflict.
Poltergeist S 2 C 2 Q 4 H 9 D 11 Mv 40 Sk Intimidate 4, Throw 4 X 75
Spiteful spirits, who are all but invisible.
Werewolf S 5 C 1 Q 6 H 15 D 12 Mv 60 Sk Acrobatics 2, Bite 2 (Damage 3),
Claw 3 (Damage 2), Track 5, Perception 5, Sneaky 2, X 90
A werewolf normally appears as an ordinary (if hairy) human, but on a full
moon transforms into a powerful bipedal wolf. Some might be able to
transform at other times (such as when under stress). The profile above is for
the wolf-form.
Vampire S 5 C 4 Q 3 W 3 H 15 D 10 Mv 30 Sk Bruiser 2, Intimidate 1, Perception
1, Sneaky 2, X 125;
Dark Vision (can see in total darkness), Cloud Minds (Clever vs Clever roll –
if the vampire is successful, can make the loser forget its presence).
Weakness: Vulnerable to Sunlight (the vampire suffers a -2 to all rolls and to
defence while in direct sunlight, and is unable to use any talents.
A stake through the heart (targeting a vampire’s heart with a wooden stake
adds 4 to the vampire’s defence but kills it instantly if the blow hits).
Zombie S 4 C 1 Q 1 H 9 D 9 Mv 10 Sk Bruiser 3 X 25
Lumbering undead horrors. Zombies might be resurrected (perhaps from the
battle dead), but they could also be the result of a disease mutation. You might
decide that they are harder to kill, requiring the brain to be destroyed (to hit
roll is harder, -2 – add 15 to XP) and can spread their infection through biting
a victim (unless a cure is found, the victim is transformed into a zombie in 1
dice worth of hours or days).

Devilish Creatures
Perhaps the cultists and occult scientists are attempting to open a hell gate:
Demon, Minor S 5 C 3 Q 3 M 3 H 15 D 10 Mv 30 Sk Bruiser 3, Blades 3,
Bludgeon 3, Command 2, Intimidate 3 X 150

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Demon, Lord/Lady S 9 C 4 Q 4 M 6 H 20 D 12 Mv 40 Sk Bruiser 4, Blades 3,

Bludgeon 3 X 800
Imp S 3 C 2 Q 3 H 9 D 9 Mv 30 Sk Blades 2, Shooting 4, Engineer 2 X 50

Lovecraftian Horrors
These sanity-blasting creatures are wholly inimitable to mankind, and often
from wholly alien dimensions. They may be simply be drawn to the carnage
of the conflict, or they might have been summoned by cultists or weird
scientists.
You might decide these creatures and threats are so weird, so alien, that
encountering one can have a devastating impact on the observer’s state of
mind. This is treated as a Hazard. Those who summon such creatures are not
immune to these effects - but anyone willingly summoning such things is
probably mad already.
The following horrors are taken from H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.
Elder Things: S 4, C 3, Q 3, H 12, D 8, W 2, Mv 20 (land and water) 10 (air), Sk
Flailing Tentacles (Strong) 2 (Damage 2), Perception (Quick) 1, Sneaky (Clever)
2, Swim (Strong) 3, Weird Science (Clever) 2, Sp Breathe Underwater, Fly,
Insanity Rating: Bad
Shoggoth: S 7, C 1, Q 2, H 16, D 12, W 2, Mv 20 (land and water), Sk
Protoplasmic Extrusion (Strong) 2 (Damage 3), Perception (Quick) 1, Swim
(Strong) 1, Sp Breathe Underwater, Insanity Rating: Appalling
Mi-Go: S 3 C 3, Q 2, H 12, D 12, W 1, Mv 20 (Land and Air), Sk, Perception 1,
Shooting 1 (Electrogun, Damage 5, Range 50), Weird Science 1, Sp Fly on
transdimensional wings, Insanity Rating: Bad
Night Gaunts: S 4 C 2, Q 3, H 12, D 12, W 1, Mv 30 (Land and Air), Sk, Claws
and Jaws (Strong) 2 (Damage 3), Perception 1, Sp Fly, Insanity Rating: Bad
Deep Ones: S 3 C 2, Q 2, H 10, D 10, W 1, Mv 20 (Land and Water), Sk Bruiser
1, Sneaky 1, Swim 2, Sp Breathe Underwater, Dark Vision, Insanity Rating:
Shaky
Ghouls: S 3 C 2, Q 3, H 10, D 10, W 1, Mv 30, Sk, Claws and Jaws (Strong) 1,
Perception 1, Sneaky 1, Track 1, Sp Dark Vision Insanity Rating: Shaky

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Mighty Cthulhu etc. To be honest, there is no point in trying to provide
meaningful statistics for Cthulhu or any of his kind. They all have an Insanity
Rating of Appalling, and if you try to fight them… you die. The best way to
defeat such a creature is either to disrupt a cult’s ritual summoning, or find
some sort of ritual of banishment.

Sanity Loss

Quick Play Rules

As a speedier alternative to the rules below, for quick one-off games, you
might want to dispense with a Sanity score and just ask for a quick Fear
Test. Roll 1 dice – to pass the character will require a 2 for a Shaky
experience; 4 for a Bad experience; and 6 for an appalling experience. If
the roll is failed, the character is frozen with fear or will attempt to run
away for 1 dice worth of Combat Rounds.

Some creatures and situations are so horrific that they can cause a character’s
sanity to be eroded and his or her mind to unravel. Even if you are not adding
a horror/occult twist to your games, you might decide to use the following
rules – after all, Adventurers might well become unhinged by their war
experiences. If you want to add sanity and insanity to your OneDice game,
use the following rules.
Calculate Maximum Sanity: Each character starts with a Sanity (San) score of
1 dice+3. Keep a note of this starting score. This is a character’s maximum
Sanity.
Threat Levels: There are three levels of threat:

Level Example San Loss

First time seeing a corpse; a minor
Shaky 1 point of San Loss
mythos creature; etc.
Seeing one’s comrades butchered; a
Bad 1 dice divided by 2 San loss
more major mythos creature; etc.
Appalling Witnessing a massacre; A Great One; etc. 1 dice of San loss

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Each type of Shaky event will only cause Sanity loss once (i.e. Seeing a certain
type of minor mythos creature will cause a single point of San loss the first
time it is witnessed. Seeing the same type of creature another time, will not
cause further San loss – but seeing a different type of minor mythos creature
will cause another point of San to be lost).
Each type of Bad event will cause Sanity loss twice (i.e. Seeing a certain type
of more major mythos creature will cause one dice divided by two points of
San loss the first and second time it is witnessed (on two different occasions).
Seeing the same type of creature a third time will not cause further San loss).
Each type of Appalling event will cause Sanity loss three times (on three
different occasions).

How it works
Reduced to 0 Sanity = short term insanity and chance of long term insanity
Loss of 5 Sanity in one go = chance of long term insanity
When twice starting Sanity lost = chronic condition

Consequences of Sanity loss

When a character is reduced to 0 Sanity or lower, he or she will immediately
experience a period of short-term insanity – and do so following any further
Sanity loss, until Sanity is restored above 0.
Roll a dice and consult the following table:

Standard Short Term Effects

Roll Effect
1 Freezes for 1 dice x combat rounds.
2 Freezes for 1 dice x minutes.
3 Mutters uncontrollably for 1 dice x minutes.
4 Tries to flee (whether this is possible or not) for 1 dice of combat rounds.
5 Tries to flee for 1 dice x minutes.
6 Suffers Serious Short Term Effect (roll on table below).

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Serious Short Term Effects
Roll Effect
1 Will attempt to harm anyone nearby, friend or foe, for 1 dice x minutes.
2 Hallucinations causing bizarre behaviour for 1 dice x minutes.
3 Uncontrollable screaming for 1 dice x minutes.
4 Uncontrollable vomiting for 1 dice x minutes.
5 Will attempt to harm self for 1 dice x minutes.
Develops standard long term condition (or additional long term effect, if
6
already suffering from one).

Long Term Insanity

Also when reduced to 0 Sanity or less or when losing 5 or more Sanity in one
go, there is a chance that a character will develop a long-term insanity.
Roll a dice + Clever. If the result is 6 or more, the character immediately begins
to develop a long term insanity. If failed, the character will only suffer a short
term insanity.
Long term conditions may be lived with for a while, but without help (see
Restoring Sanity below) will worsen over time, until the character is no longer
able to function. Long term conditions will always last until the character has
been treated (i.e. his or her Sanity rises back above 0).

Roll Effect
Develops phobia. Roll again: 1 – confined spaces or dark; 2 – open spaces
1 or bright light; 3 – an everyday item (food, drink, clothes, etc.); 4 – a type
of common animal; 5 – heights; 6 – mud, dust, dirt, etc.
2 Develops addictive behaviour (Gamekeeper’s choice of addiction).
3 Develops increasingly worse nightmares and insomnia.
4 Finds it increasingly hard to know what is real and what is not.
5 Becomes increasingly suspicious of everyone else.
6 Develops chronic condition (roll on table below).

Chronic Condition
When a character has lost twice their starting Sanity (e.g. A character with
a starting Sanity of 7 falls to -7 Sanity) he or she will automatically lapse into
a chronic condition. Characters with a chronic condition may never recover.
Recovery is at the Gamekeeper’s discretion and will take at least six months

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of continual care. Adventurers with a chronic condition should be considered
(at least temporarily) retired.

Roll Effect

Appears lucid – but will become extremely and unremittingly violent when given
1
the slightest opportunity to be able to cause harm to others.

2 Agitated and/or speaks in an incomprehensible language.

3 Completely catatonic.
4 Smearing, uncontrollable itching, shrieking and/or thumping walls.
5 Rocking, shaking and/or muttering.
6 Refuses to eat, drink and/or suicidal.

Restoring Sanity
Sanity recovery is harder than healing physical Health.
If a character has a Sanity score above 0
If a character has a Sanity score above 0, Sanity can be restored to full by the
following means:
Proper rest, care and pampering (rest/leave, a cruise or health spa, etc.) – +1
point restored per full week of proper rest.
Making the world a safer place (whether by foiling a plot or an act of great
kindness, etc.) – +1 dice divided by 2 Sanity.
Decent therapy or counselling (at least ten sessions and dependent on quality
of therapist – at the Gamekeeper’s discretion some may cause more trauma
than they cure!).
If a character has a Sanity score 0 or below
The character will need a period of hospitalisation to bring their Sanity back
and avoid a worsening of their condition (until it rises above 0, at which point
they will be able to use the other methods of restoration above). If treated
with due care and attention (which is by no means guaranteed in this era) the
patient will recover +1 Sanity per week of treatment. If this care is supervised
by a good therapist (with the Medicine and Psychology skills), the character
will receive an extra +1 Sanity per week.

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Skin Two – Endless War

What if the war didn’t end in 1918? What if the allies pressed on after their
final assault, but were stopped by the German army, before an armistice was
signed? What if the Germans managed to produce even more ersatz solutions
to counter their shortages, allowing them to feed and equip their population
for longer? This skin is about that very possibility – that rather than the war
ending, the front-line stabilises once more, large-scale assaults became more
rare, and a static conflict of attrition rages on for years,perhaps decades,
longer.

Adaption
Maybe there are developments in other theatres of the war too – maybe the
US becomes divided, between the north, who want to continue supporting
the allies; and Mexico and the south, who tire of the conflict and have their
own agendas. The Russians might re-enter the war – as Germany and her
allies decide that they cannot afford to risk their former enemies rebuilding
and re-joining the fight on their own terms.
But whatever happens in the rest of the world, the familiar fortresses of
Verdun and massed entrenchments around the Ypres salient remain the
reality for the front-line soldiers. With the front-line stabilised, static warfare
continues. The front-lines become ever deeper, the forces more dug in and
fortified, and all sides resign themselves to a defensive war for a long period.

Technology
With the war continuing, both sides continue to attempt to find technological
solutions to make a breakthrough. Tanks and airplanes become faster and
more sophisticated; rockets with targeting technology might be developed,
to be used alongside traditional artillery; bunkers are reinforced and sunk far
underground; etc.
Tank, Large, S 10 Q 3 H 20 D 10 Mv 70 Cr 16
Tank, Small, S 8 Q 5 H 15 D 10 Mv 100 Cr 6
Aeroplane, Large Military S 7 Q 6 H 21 D 9 Mv 150 Cr 4+/10
Aeroplane, Individual Military S 5 Q 10 H 15 D 11 Mv 180 Cr 1

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You might decide that technology has leapt further still – and that poison gas
has turned the front into a much more toxic state – and/or incorporate
radioactive elements (see below); or allow the use of weird machines. For
example:
Combat Walker S 7 Q 4 H 12 D 9 Mv 65 Cr 6 1/1
A two-legged walking tank, with three guns.

Poverty
The endless war is wreaking havoc on the economies of the combatant
nations. Populations are getting poorer as their governments descend into
ever greater debt. While technology is being used to find ever more efficient
ways of killing, the home front is stagnating and possibly returning to a more
feudal system.

Strife
Governments are increasingly forced to fight their own people – through a
intensive patriotic propaganda war, and a crackdown on trade unions and
anti-war protest movements. The home front is becoming ever more hostile,
and draft resistance is growing (and punishments for draft resistance ever
more severe!).

Toxic Front
You might decide that the front is becoming ever more toxic, due to
developments in gas and radioactive technologies.
The level of hazard produced by the poisonous environment varies as follows:
Safe: Sealed underground complexes; areas in the outside world that have
somehow escaped contamination. Effect: None
Low Level: Underground complexes suffering from minor leaks; high, open,
wind-swept and exposed areas above ground. Effect: These areas are relatively
safe, but prolonged exposure without anti-toxin pills or protective clothing,
will cause damage (or mutation). Without protection – Target Number 6
Hazard – roll once every 1 dice of days. If affected, the character will develop
a mutation (Gamekeeper’s discretion) or succumb to sickness and lose 1
Strong every month, until reduced to 0, at which point they will die.

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Mid Level: Most of the front-line. Effect: These areas are unsafe without
protective gear and anti toxin-pills. Without Protection – Target Number 8
Hazard – roll once every 1 dice of hours. If affected, the character will develop
a mutation (Gamekeeper’s discretion) or succumb to sickness and lose 1
Strong every week, until reduced to 0 Strong, at which point they will die.
High Level: Particularly targetted areas on the front-line. Effect: Even with
protection, these toxic areas are uninhabitable for very long. With or without
all but the heaviest protective clothing and anti-toxin pills – Target Number
8 Hazard – roll once every 1 dice of hours. If affected, the character will
develop a mutation (Gamekeeper’s discretion) or succumb to sickness and
lose 1 Strong every hour, until reduced to 0 Strong, at which point they will
die.
Death Zone: The most concentrated toxic areas – the toxins in the air are
dangerous enough to burn through most protective clothing and reduce a
human to a husk, within minutes. Effect: These areas are all but completely
inaccessible, aside from by those wearing heavy anti-toxin suits. Humans
exposed to such high levels, even using pills and filters, fall unconscious within
1 dice of minutes and will die in a further 1 dice of minutes. With or without
all but the heaviest protective clothing – Target Number 12+ Hazard – roll
every minute.

Equipment
Anti-Toxin Bath: A medical chamber used to treat sickness. The casualty must
be placed in the sealed bath chamber (and will be fed and given oxygen
through tubes) for 1 dice worth of days (Basic) or weeks (Advanced). Officers,
the upper classes/wealthy, and decorated soldiers, have priority access to
these facilities. Basic: Prevents further damage from toxic sickness (though
does not prevent a further exposure causing fresh damage). Advanced:
Actually heals toxic damage, restoring the bather’s Strong to its original level.
Anti-Toxin Pills: Allows the taker to operate in low level toxic zones without
becoming poisoned.
Toxin-Detection Device: Detects local toxicity levels. Basic: Detects local toxic
level (none, low, mid, high, death). Advanced: Detects toxicity levels over a
larger area (Gamekeeper’s discretion, according to model) and later models
display them on a HUD map.

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Sealed Exo-Armour/Heavy Toxin Suits: Heavy protective gear which provides

armour and protection against toxicity. Unfortunately, they are so
cumbersome, that conducting any activities in such a suit is difficult. Wearer
must have a Strong of 3+ to move in the suit; Move is reduced to a maximum
of 10; the suit acts as +4 Defence Armour; All skill checks are at -4 while
wearing the suit.

Playing Mutants
You might decide that toxins cause mutation. You might even allow Players
to play a mutant Adventurer. Character creation is as normal, but roll for one
mutation ability and one distinctive feature (or, with the Gamekeeper’s
permission, create your own!).
Mutation Ability
1 – Naturally speedy (+20 to Move).
2 – Chameleon (+2 to Sneaky).
3 – Night Vision (Can see in the dark as if it is daytime).
4 – Super Senses (+2 to Perception).
5 – Claws (+2 to Damage rating when fighting unarmed, i.e. using Bruiser).
6 – Tough skin (+2 to Defence).
Distinctive Feature
1 – A tail.
2 – Brightly and unusually coloured skin, purple, blue, red, etc.
3 – Extra fingers and toes.
4 – No chin, eyelids and/or lips.
5 – Furry.
6 – Reptilian skin.
All distinctive features give a -2 penalty to Disguise skill rolls. Mutants are
immune to all but the highest levels of toxic poisoning (High and Death zones).

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 Chapter Four –
Adventure Seeds

What are Adventure Seeds?

The following adventure seeds have been designed to give the Gamekeeper
a few quick ideas for making his or her own adventures. The intention of the
seeds is to provide inspiration for your own adventures, rather than to provide
fully developed scenarios.

Tour of Duty (Front-line)

A tour of duty game might include an entire stint in the front, from
deployment (moving up to the front along communication trenches), right
through to relief. While at the front, the Adventurers might be expected to
undertake certain missions – sentry duty in a sap head (a forward observation
post, dug nearer the enemy lines); be sent to conduct a raid on an enemy sap
head, in order to capture a prisoner; form a wiring party (laying barbed wire,
or cutting enemy barbed wire); rescue a bombed out supply column in a
communication or reserve trench; take part in a defensive action; or even be
sent over the top to take part in an assault. As well as participating in combat
duties, and trying to avoid military hazards (perhaps surviving a
bombardment, gas attack and/or a sniper battle), there might be other story
opportunities. What if the local commander is going mad? What if there is
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an injured comrade who needs rescuing from a shell-hole in no man’s land?
Where has all the rum gone? A tour of duty might offer the chance of medals,
be a simple test of endurance and survival, or become the final resting place
of the brave Adventurers.

Dig Deep (Front-line)

The Adventurers are expected to help excavate an underground tunnel,
stretching beneath the enemy front-line. They will have to survive tunnel
collapses and tunnel fighting against enemy miners – and if you are playing
with an occultish horror option, who knows what they’ll disturb beneath the
surface.

The Enemy Within (Home Front)

The Adventurers are employed to find out about a secret society, working
against their nation’s interests. They will have to infiltrate the factory, the
boss of whom is an enemy sympathiser. Then they’ll have to uncover evidence
of intentional tampering with military supplies. Will they be content with the
capturing the factory owner? Or will they want to try to infiltrate the society
behind the operation? Is the society merely a group of enemy agents? Or are
they working to some other agenda? Either way, they’ll employ thugs and
assassins in an attempt to thwart the Adventurers.

Secret Weapon (Espionage/Occult Horror)

The Adventurers are asked to interview an enemy prisoner. They’ll find that
the prisoner has gone quite mad. At first they might dismiss the ramblings as
fantasies induced by shell-shock – but they’ll be told to persevere. Eventually
they will be able to piece together that there are experiments being
conducted, behind enemy lines, developing some sort of super weapon.
They’ll be told the name of the company defending the facility. Then they’ll
be sent behind enemy lines as spies; charged with finding out more about
the enemy plans. Once they find out where the enemy company is stationed,
they’ll have to find a way into the secret facility – where they will find vats
growing monstrous constructs, to be used as super-soldiers. The super-
soldiers might be brought to life by weird scientists, using electricity; or by
cultists, who summon diabolical spirits to possess the fleshy constructs.

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Zombie Attack (Front-Line Horror)
Stuck in a shell-hole, possibly with a group of the enemy (prisoners or under
a temporary truce, until the shelling abates), suddenly the corpses of the dead
start to rise. The Adventurers will have to fight their way out, avoiding
infection and taking the zombies down with head shots. Of course, once back
in their own trench, the Adventurers might find the massed graves dug behind
the front-line are also affected!!!

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Timeline
Note: Battles in WW1 might run for days, weeks, and even months – as more
and more troops are poured into a hotly contested area of the front, so, where
a battle is listed, the name might refer to the beginning or end of a much
longer campaign, rather than one bloody fight.

1914
July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
August 1: France mobilises. Germany declares war on Russia.
August 3: Germany declares war on France. Great Britain mobilises.
August 4: Germany declares war on and invades Belgium. Great Britain
declares war on Germany.
August 7: Members of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) land in France.
August 14: Battle of the Frontiers. France suffers appalling losses.
August 20: Germans occupy Brussels.

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August 26: BEF forced to retreat following Battle of Le Cateau. Russia invasion
of Germany halted and reversed at Battle of Tannenberg.
August 30: First German air raid on Paris.
September 5-12: Battle of the Marne checks German advance (costing over
half a million casualties).
October 16: British Indian Expeditionary Force sails from Bombay to the
Persian Gulf.
October 19 – November 22: First Battle of Ypres. Massive losses for little gain
for either side.
October 29: Ottoman Empire enters the war.
November 16 – December 2: Battle of Cracow. Heavy losses for Russia and
Austro-Hungary.
November 22: Trenches now stretch across the entire Western Front.
November 23: British enter Basra.
December 16: German First High Sea fleet bombards the British mainland.
December 18: Britain declares Egypt a Protectorate.

1915
January 19: Zeppelins bomb British mainland.
February 18: Blockade of Britain by German U-boats begins.
March 10: British Offensive at Neuve Chapelle begins (and fails).
April 22: Second Battle of Ypres begins. First major use of poison (chlorine)
gas by Germany.
April 25: Allies land at Gallipoli - British, Commonwealth and French are
pinned down and suffer heavy casualties.
May 2: Austro-German offensive on Galicia begins.
May 23: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.
May 31: The first Zeppelin raid on London.
June 4: Third (and final) Battle of Krithia begins at Gallipoli.

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June 21: British troops re-occupy Aden.

June 30: German troops use flame throwers for the first time against the
British (at Ypres).
August 6: Allies land two divisions at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. They are pinned to
the beaches by the Turkish army.
August 7: Germans take Warsaw.
August 21: The Battle of Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli, the final (failed) British
offensive in the Dardanelles.
September 25: Great Allied Offensive begins at Loos and Champagne.
September 27: British and Canadian regiments break German lines. Lack of
reserves and high casualties prevent greater success.
October 5: Austro-Hungarians step up campaign against the Serbians.
Anglo-French forces land at Salonika in response.
October 31: Steel helmets introduced on British Front.
November 22: Battle of Ctesiphon, south of Baghdad. Allies besieged in Kut.
December 20: Allies evacuate Gallipoli.

1916
February 21: The Battle of Verdun starts (over a million men will
become casualties).
April 5: The Battle of Kut. The third and final Allied attempt to relieve Kut fails
disastrously.
April 29: Garrison at Kut surrenders (after 143 days of siege).
May 31 - June 1: The Battle of Jutland. Despite inflicting heavy losses on the
British, the German fleet is irreparably damaged (and knocked out of the war).
June 4: The Russian Brusilov Offensive begins, almost knocking Austo-Hungary
out of the war.
June 5: Lawrence aids the Arabs revolting against the Turks in Hejaz.
July 1 – November 13: The Battle of the Somme begins along a 25 mile front.
On the first day the British army suffers 60,000 casualties and gains little

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ground – by the end of the offensive, over 400,000 British (and Empire)
soldiers will have been killed, in a failed effort to relieve the French.
July 14: The Battle of Bazentin Ridge marks the end of the first Somme
Offensive.
July 23: The Battle of Pozières Ridge (the second Somme Offensive).
August 26: Britain enters the Morogoro Campaign in East Africa.
August 28: Italy declares war on Germany
September 9: The British capture Ginchy.
September 15: Tanks are used for the first time at the Battle of Flers-
Courcelette. Again, despite initial gains, the Allies fail to break through.
September 26: Tanks play a crucial role in the Battle of Thiepval.
November 13: The Battle of Ancre.
December 18: The Battle of Verdun, the longest and costliest battle on the
Western Front, ends.
December 30: Rasputin is murdered in St Petersburg.

1917
3 February: Following Germany notification of their intention to wage
unrestricted submarine warfare (on the 1��), US breaks off diplomatic relations
with Germany.
February 21: The German Withdrawal begins. They fall back onto strong
positions along the Hindenburg Line.
February 24: The Turks retreat to Baghdad, abandoning Kut.
March 10: Russian troops mutiny.
March 11: Baghdad is taken by the British.
March 15: The Tsar abdicates. Moscow falls to Russian Revolutionaries. The
war continues for awhile, but the burden of fighting in the Eastern front is
mostly lifted from the German army.
March 26: The First Battle of Gaza. The British assault fails.

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April: Bolshevik leaders arrive in St Petersburg (Petrograd). Germany hopes
(correctly) they will destabilise the provisional Russian government.
April 6: US declares war on Germany.
April 9 – 4 May: The Battle of Arras. The British use creeping barrages and
counter battery fire to aid the British and Canadian advance.
April 16: The Second Battle of Aisne. French losses are so bad that there are
widespead mutinies.
April 19: The Second Battle of Gaza begins in Palestine. The unimaginative
allied assault is unsuccessful.
June 7: The Battle of Messines Ridge. The British mine under the ridge,
planting explosives and detonating them just before the successful attack.
June 13: German 18 Gotha GV aircraft drop bombs over London.
June 25: First US troops arrive in France.
July 16: Lawrence and the Arabs liberate Aqaba in Jordan, cutting off the
Turkish army in Mesopotania.
July 31 – 10 Nov: The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) begins. The allies
make some gains.
August 15: The Battle of Lens. The Canadians take Hill 70, but at the cost of
thousands of lives.
August 20: The Third Battle of Verdun begins.
October 9: The third phase of the Ypres Offensive begins amidst heavy rains
– the battlefield turns into a quagmire.
October 12: The British attack along the Passchendaele Ridge. The attack is
immediately bogged down in the mud.
October 19: The last airship raid on Britain is carried out by 11 Zeppelins.
October 26: The Second Battle of Passchendaele begins. Thousands are killed
gaining just a few hundred yards.
October 30: In appalling rain and mud, the British launch another offensive
at Passchendaele.

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October 31: Battle of Beersheba, Palestine. British forces beat the Turks – the
door to Jerusalem is open.
November 6: Russian Revolution. The next day the provisional government
falls, and the Bolshevik government takes power. From the start, there is
dissension – which culminates in the Russian Civil War.
November 7: British capture Gaza.
November 10: Half a million+ casualties later, the Battle of Passchendaele
ends. The allies have won little territory, although they do now command the
heights.
November 20: The Battle of Cambrai begins. After initial successes, the
Germans retake the British gains.
December 11: Britain takes Jerusalem, ending 673 years of Turkish rule.

1918
Throughout 1918 a flu pandemic sweeps Asia, Europe and North America –
it will eventually claim more lives than the Great War.
March 3: Soviet Russia concludes peace with Germany and her allies.
March 21 – April 5: German Spring Offensive (Second Battle of the Somme).
Germans attack along a 50 mile front.
March 22: The German offensive, spearheaded by stormtrooper assualt
teams, is a stunning success.
March 23: The Germans reach the old Somme Line. Above the battle, seventy
aircraft are involved in one combat.
March 28: The German offensive stalls. The American Expeditionary Force
plays a vital role.
April 5: The first German Spring Offensive halts outside Amiens. The Second
Battle of the Somme ends.
April 9: The second German Spring Offensive (The Battle of the Lys) begins.
April 22: Allies carry out raids against the harbours of Ostend and Zeebrugge.
April 29: The Battle of the Lys ends. Crippling loss are inflicted on the German
army.

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May 10: The British launch a second raid on Ostend.
May 19: The German Air Force launches its largest (and last) raid on London.
May 27: The third German Spring Offensive. The French are forced back, but
eventually hold after being reinforced by American troops.
June 9: The fourth German Offensive on the Western Front fails to break the
French line.
June 15: Austo-Hungarians mount a massive assault at second Battle of the
Piave River, Italy. Their army is all but destroyed and the Austro-Hungarian
Empire is doomed.
July 15: The final phase of the German Spring Offensive ends with the second
Battle of the Marne. Allied counter attacks maul the German army, causing it
to abandon all thought of future offensives.
July 16: The Tsar and family are shot.
August 8: The second Battle of Amiens begins. Trench lines are breached and
the German defence is sporadic.
September 19: The Battle of Samaria in Palestine.
September 22: The Great Allied Balkan Victory.
September 27: Great British and American Offensive breaks the Hindenburg
Line.
September 30: British and Arab troops take Damascus.
October 8: The Allies take Cambrai and le Cateau.
October 17: Lille, Douai and Ostend are taken by the allies.
October 18: The allies reach Zeebrugge. The west Flanders coast is completely
liberated.
October 28: German sailors mutiny and refuse to engage the British Fleet.
October 30: Turkey surrenders to the British in Mesopotamia. Turkey signs
an armistice and fighting ceases the following day.
November 3: Austria-Hungary signs armistice with the Allies.
November 9: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and revolution breaks out in Berlin.

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November 11: Germany signs the armistice. At 11.00am, the war officially
ends.

The Sides
The war was fought between the Entente (also known as the Allies) and the
Central Powers. As well as the great European powers, most of which joined
one side of the conflict or the other fairly swiftly, other nations join the
struggle as the conflict progresses. These other combatants range from
Associate Powers (such as the US); to countries obliged to participate due to
colonial relations with a European power (such as India, which was part of
the British Empire); to nations hoping to join the sides of the winners, to
secure something out of a future peace; to the stateless, who hope to achieve
recognition by throwing their lot in with on or other side in the conflict.
The result was a truly global war.

The Central Powers

Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria.
Others fighting for the Central Powers/declaring against the Allies include:
The Dervish State, Sultanate of Darfur, Jabal Shammar, and formal German
protectorates in Africa and Asia. After the collapse of Russia: Lithuania, Finland
and Azerbaijan declared themselves for the Central Powers.

Germany
Advantages: Highly Industrialised; Militarised and Tactically Astute;
Manpower; Excellent Logistics.
Disadvantages: Fighting on 2 main fronts through much of the war; Blockaded
from Imports; Lack of Colonial Influence; Need to Bolster Friendly Forces
German industry and German (in particular, Prussian) military training is
second-to-none.

Austria-Hungary
Advantages: Large Size; Proximity to Strong Friendly Forces; Communications
Disadvantages: Internal Strife; Outdated Tactics; Inefficiency; Mostly Land-
Locked

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Despite being divided along national lines and the variable quality of its
troops, the Austro-Hungarians will fight hard until the end.

Ottoman Empire
Advantages: Experienced Cadre; German Advisors and Supplies
Disadvantages: Just Lost a War; Not Prepared; Lack of Production
The Ottoman Empire surprised the world with its initial military successes,
although in the end Ottoman troops would be totally routed following battles
in Egypt and Palestine.

Bulgaria
Advantages: Strategic Gateway (Between Ottomans and Germans); Territorial
Ambitions; Late entry to war.
Disadvantages: Lack of Production; Lack of commitment to fighting beyond
their territorial ambitions.
The Bulgarians enter the war to gain specific territories – which initially they’ll
manage to do, as the Bulgarian Army help the Central Powers sweep through
Serbia (which up to then will have managed a dogged resistance). Once their
territorial ambitions have been realised, a corridor will finally open linking up
the Central Powers. Then the Bulgarian will settle to trench fighting to defend
their acquisitions, until they will be beaten in the closing months of the war.

The Entente/Allies
Entente/Allies: Russia, France, British Empire, Serbia, Italy, Romania, Japan,
Belgium, Greece, Montenegro, United States (actually an associate power
rather than formal ally), Portugal
British Empire: Including Dominion, Dependency or Colonial troops or/and
support from Australia, India, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South
Africa, Nepal, Gibralter, Cyprus, West Indies, Malta, along with East, West and
South African forces.
Other allies: Some peoples see the war as an opportunity to fight for the
allies, to win their own chance at future statehood/recognition. These include
the Polish legions, the Hejaz, Czecoslovak legions, and the Armenians.

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Belgium
Advantages: Strong Fortifications; Enough Troops Survived to Hold Part of the
Front
Disadvantages: Small Size; Country Largely Occupied Early On; Fortifications
Vulnerable to German Howitzers
Belgium can never hope to withstand a German attack alone – but they will
manage to hold on for a precious few days, despite their fortifications being
neutralised by German heavy artillery. Spared participation on many of the
costly offensives that took place on the Western Front, and despite much of
their territory being occupied, they nevertheless manage to secure their own
section of the line and contribute to the allied cause throughout the war.

Russia
Advantages: Vast Manpower Reserves; Size
Disadvantages: Lack of Industrialisation; Production and Supply Difficulties;
Tactically Inept (Lacking Mobility); Internal Strife
Russia has a vast standing army and huge reserves – but has poor
communication and transport infrastructures and an outdated command
structure. At the outset, the Russians will split their armies to fight the
Austro-Hungarians and the Germans.

France
Advantages: Militarised; Large Army; Empire; Strong Artillery; Rapidly
Developing and Improving Airforce
Disadvantages: Initial Tactics Disastrous/Over-Confidence; Previous Defeats;
Partial Occupation; Initial Lack of Military Modernisation
France immediately puts its vast army on the offensive, but they don’t expect
the size or strength of the German Army they face. Initial losses are so severe
that they won’t be reported until after the war. Eventually the French and
British will hold the Germans at the Battle of the Marne – after which comes
years of static trench warfare. The German decision to bleed France dry at
Verdun will be hugely costly to France – but again they will hold on. Like the
British, it’ll take the French far too long to adapt their offensive tactics to fight
a modern war. The failed Nivelle Offensive in 1917 will prove too much for
the French infantry – and there will be widespread mutiny – men not so much
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refusing to fight, as refusing to be fruitlessly hurled head on against enemy

artillery and machine guns. Just before the war’s end, having weathered a
German offensive and with British and US support, the French will successfully
broke through the German lines.

British Empire
Advantages: Modernised Military; Naval Strength; Empire
Disadvantages: Relatively Small Army at Outset; Reliant on Imports
The British enter the war with a modern well-equipped army, but the force
is relatively small. As the war progresses, most of the regular units will be
decimated, and a vast new volunteer (and later conscripted) army needs to
be trained and deployed. While British tactics develop throughout the war,
British generals hold on to long to the idea that weight of bombardment and
frontal assault might lead to a sudden breakthrough, despite the horrendous
conditions on the ground, and that the Germans hold the better positions
and build better entrenchments for much of the war. The British benefit from
a strong navy, although shipping is vulnerable to the new German U-Boat
force and naval mines. Britain also benefits, in terms of wealth and population,
from having a massive colonial empire and other semi-colonial allies. The
British pioneer mass tank assaults.

Serbia
Advantages: Stalwart Defence; Experienced Army
Disadvantages: Resources; Size; Casualties; Geographical Position
Initially Serbia shocks Austro-Hungary, by holding on for over a year (rather
than the couple of weeks the Austro-Hungarians had imagined). By the end
of the campaign, and with the intervention of the Bulgarians on the Central
Powers side, the Serbians will have little left to give – their already small
population decimated – and their army is exiled from its home territory in
1915.

Italy
Advantages: Enthusiasm to expand; Crack Alpine Troops; Numerical
Advantage on Front at Start

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Disadvantages: Poor; Supply Problems; Initially Their Opponents held the

High Ground
Italy joins the war in 1915, hoping to win a quick victory against Austro-
Hungary, but fighting quickly bogs down into trench warfare, but with the
added complications of high altitudes and freezing winters. Costly and regular
frontal offensives sap Italian morale. They finally break through the Austrian
lines just before the war comes to a close.

United States
Advantages: Fresh to the Fight; Economic Might
Disadvantages: Slow to Train and Deploy; Inexperience; Divided Public
As soon as the US enters the war, an ever greater stream of supplies pours
across the Atlantic to aid the allied war effort. By the summer of 1918 a large
US military force will have joined the fight.

Military Organisation
It’s worth having a rough idea of the structure of the great armies. Most of
the large armies have a similar structure, although each has its unique
differences of emphasis.
Structure undergoes reorganisation throughout the war, but command
structures might be roughly organised as follows:
Going up the command structure, there are more specialist administration
roles. Taking the British Army as an example:
Section (12+1 NCO) = Commanded by 1 NCO.
Platoon (50) – Commanded by subaltern (Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant)
Company (220) – Commanded by a Major or Captain, with a Captain as second
in command. Company HQ includes batmen, drivers, a Company Sergeant
Major and Company Quartermaster Sergeant.
Battalion (1000) = 4 Companies and a Battalion HQ. Commanded by a
Lieutenant Colonel, with a Major as second in command. Also an adjutant
(Captain or Lieutenant responsible for administration; Quartermaster; Medical
Officer; Regimental Sergeant Major and other specialists/officials. Battalion

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Quick Version:
General Headquarters (GHQ) - Under Command of War Office
Several Armies - Under Command of GHQ
Several Corps – Under Command of an Army
Several Divisions – Under the Command of a Corps
Several Brigades – Under the Command of a Division (12-20,000 soldiers)
Several Battalions – Under the Command of a Brigade (3-5,000 soldiers)
Several Companies – Under the Command of a Battalion (1,000 soldiers)
Several Platoons – Under the Command of a Company (220 soldiers)
Several Sections – Under the Command of a Platoon (50 Soldiers)
Several Soldiers in a Section (12 soldiers + 1 NCO)

HQ would also command signallers, pioneers, medical section and stretcher

bearers, transport and orderlies. In the early war a heavy machine gun section
would be attached to the battalion, but as the war progressed the heavy
machine guns were put under Brigade, and then their own Corp commands;
while light machine guns were integrated into infantry platoons and sections.
Beyond the Battalion; Divisions, Corps and Armies have their own HQs, all
reporting to the GHQ.

Artillery
Guns are organised into six gun batteries (or four gun heavy batteries),
commanded at brigade and divisional level (and, as the war progressed, at
Corp level).
Heavy guns might be five or more miles from the front; medium guns 3-5
miles from the front; and “light” guns a couple of miles back. Gun wagons are
situated a couple of miles behind the artillery lines.

Trench Lines
The front-line trench is directly in front of the enemy front-line (as close as
50 yards, as far away as a mile).

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There would be forward listening/observation posts (sap heads) and machine
gun nests, as well as dugouts (on the allied side, often just for the officers,
while the men had to sleep in holes in the trench side) and underground
networks connecting some areas.
The support trench would usually be set several hundred yards behind.
Personnel and supplies could be rushed toward the front-line from here.
The reserve trenches would be set several hundred more yards to the rear.
Communication trenches would extend between the front, support and
reserve trenches.
While at the front, companies would rotate between the trenches, to keep
morale high and prevent exhaustion (although often the men in the rear
trenches were required to form working parties, so might still be very tired
indeed).
Trenches would generally not be straight, but zig-zagged (so one shell or
machine gun couldn’t sweep through and knock out a large trench section).
The Germans generally had better trench networks along the western front
– often with bunkers, dugouts and tunnels running much deeper, and
equipped with better facilities, than those of the allies.
Although the other fronts during the war didn’t develop the sheer mileage
and coverage of the entrenchments that had developed along the western
front, they did all involve one level or other of fortification and trench warfare.

Medical Facilities
As an example of medical provision, the British army adopted the following
structure:
Aid Post – In or near the front-line.
Field Ambulance – Each Division has a mobile unit responsible for assessing
and evacuating casualties (or returning them to their unit). Confusingly, a field
ambulance refers to the whole organisation (as well as a single horse-drawn
or motorised ambulance).

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Advanced (front-line) and Main Dressing Stations – Where casualties might
be given some treatment, prior to being sent back to the front or evacuated
to a Casualty Clearing Station.
Casualty Clearing Station – Large fully equipped, often tented, hospital area,
some miles behind the front.
General or Base Hospitals – Huge fully equipped hospitals, often specialising
in the treatment of a certain type of wound/casualty.
Home Hospital – Either a military, private or civilian hospital, well away from
the front.

Ranks
Here is a rough guide to some comparative ranks:

Non-Commissioned Army Officers (NCOs)

British US French German Ottoman

Private Private Soldat 2.eme Soldat Nefer, Er

Lance Corporal Private 1st Class Soldat 1.eme Gefreiter –

Corporal Corporal Caporal Unteroffizier OnbaÅŸi

Sergeant Sergeant Sergent Sergeant Gedilki onbaÅŸi

Sergeant Major Sergeant Major Sergent-Major Feldwebel Çavus

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Commissioned Army Officers

British US French German Ottoman

Warrant Officer Cadet Aspirant Kadett Zabit namzedi

2nd Lieutenant 2nd Lieutenant Sous-Lieutenant Leutnant Mülazım‐ı sani

Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant Lieutenant Oberleutnant Mülazım‐ı evvel

Captain Captain Capitaine Hauptmann Yüzbaşı

Major Major Commandant Major Binbaşı

Lieutenant
Lieutenant Colonel LieutenantColonel Oberstleutnant Kaymakam
Colonel

Colonel Colonel Colonel Oberst Miralay

Général de
Brigadier General Brigadier-General Generalmajor –
Brigade

Major General Major-General – Generalleutnant Mirliva

Lieutenant
General der
LieutenantGeneral – Ferik
Infanterie
General

Général de
General General Generaloberst Birinci Ferik
Division

General of the Maréchal de Generalfeldmarsch

Field Marshal Müşir
Armies France all

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 Player:______________Character: ____________
OneDice
Profession: _______________ Rank:___________

Level:____ Exp: _________ Stunt Points: ______

Strong Health Equipment

Clever Defence

Quick Move Sanity

Skill Points [Attrib] Bonus Total Weapon Dam Rng

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Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)
 OneDice
Quick and easy role-playing rules for the Great War

by Peter Cakebread

OneDice WW1 is a role-playing game set against the backdrop of

the Great War of 1914-18. A global conflict, costing millions of lives,
the war involved the mobilisation and shattering of the mightiest of
armies ever assembled. It was fought on a previously unimaginable
industrial scale. Whether you want to play as one of the front-line
combatants in the mighty conflict or as a civilian, spy, medic or
journalist, all the rules you need are in this book.
There are additional “skins” for adding Occultish Horror and Endless
War twists to the world, along with a bunch of adventure seeds to
get you started playing quickly.
Whether an enthusiastic recruit, a jaded veteran, or a non-
combatant on a special mission – it’s time to enter the grim and
dangerous world of OneDice WW1.
Look out for other OneDice genre books and world books!

CW005009

Vladislav Novosardyan (Order #18302528)