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A Review and Actual Play from Saipan, a Godlike Campaign

Godlike fans are nothing if not patient.

I’ve been with the game Godlike since it first hit the shelves in 2001. Something about playing Saving Private Ryan has always appealed to me. That and the names Dennis Detwiller and Greg Stolze on the cover mean I'm a fan for life.

Since the game came out in 2001, there hasn’t been a lot of support material to follow. I’m not being critical. I know being a small game company is no picnic. So I’m patient. My wish has always been for action in the Pacific Theater. The publisher, Arc Dream Publishing, put out Talent Operations Command Intelligence Bulletin No. 3, which basically outlined how to build Marine Talents for the Operations in the Pacific, but that was all, until December 2006.

That's when the company released a download version of Combat Orders No. 2: Saipan by Matthew Hobbs. This 47-page campaign drops players in the middle of the United State’s island hopping campaign. The Battle for Saipan, June to July 1944, marked the last dreams of victory in the Pacific for Japan. The book follows the adventures of one squad of super-powered US Marines, Talents who graduated from the Special Instruction School (SIS), and have the honor of wearing the pitchfork patch and being called The Devil’s Own.

First Impression

I bought the ebook on-line from RPGNow for $5.95 and immediately set to browsing it. An amazing cover by Todd Shearer, made it impossible not to be sucked in. Inside were loads of maps and organizational charts, all good reference points to have available in a World War II game. When I got to the back of the book, the pre-generated squad completely blew me away.

US Marine SIS Squad 308 is much more than an average bunch of soldiers. Their backgrounds are extensive, their powers, interesting and their interaction, dynamic.

There are nine members to this squad, which the commanding officer had decided to dub (much to the chagrin of some) The Confederacy because all are loosely from south of the Mason Dixon Line. Each member of the squad has life breathed into him so he becomes more than just stats and powers. Having got a feel of the book, I then set about organizing a game and preparing an adventure.

Getting Ready

My life is too busy right now to have a regular gaming night. Since my daughter was born 21 months ago, most of my roleplaying has been done late at night and on-line. But I still have my old gaming group contacts. I called up Ash, who played in my last Godlike tabletop game, and asked if his D&D group might be interested in a one-shot. They happened to be wrapping up an Ebberon campaign and agreed to give it a try.

One member of the group owned a copy of the game and the others were able to check out the website and get the general ideas. Reading the book completely, I realized that it is a very good resource for a one-shot games. The book is broken down into 14 scenes, almost every one of which can be used as an adventure. I chose to run the climatic battle of the book, the fight for Flores Point. Flores Point was a seaplane base located more than halfway up the island. The scenario calls for The Confederacy to help rescue a squad of Marines pinned down near the base by an ambush and to stop the plans of a rare Japanese Talent who wants to destroy the USS Iowa, anchored off shore. It was while reading the scenario that I noticed a problem with one of the maps in the book. A directional arrow on the map of Flores Point doesn’t match up with descriptions of the buildings and created some confusion.

Once I figured the map out, I had another problem. The battle was complicated, requiring the gamemaster to track not only a force of about 20 Japanese, but also the actions of the pinned down Marine platoon, Company B, with 25 men.

Godlike has some great rules available for running squad based combat and there are even sample Japanese squads in Saipan that can be used. But nothing specific was done for this encounter. I ended up spending a couple hours creating the necessary squad paperwork to run the Company B Marines and the Japanese. It was time consuming, but paid off in the game.

Actual Play

Three out of a total of five possible players were able to make it the day of my one-shot. That was just dandy with me. I was used to Troupe Play and feel the game runs best that way. I suggested each player pick out a primary character and run the rest in a collective pool. Ash didn’t like the idea and convinced the other two players to each pick out three characters and play one as their primary. It didn’t really matter to me, I just think it meant the selection process took longer.

Ash picked the leader of the squad, as his primary character, 2nd Lt. James Winfield, a southern gentleman with pistol skills straight out of a John Woo film. Afshin, the player who owned a copy of the game took as his prime Lance Cpl. Karl Schreiber, a German immigrant out to prove his patriotism with the ability to fade into his surroundings. The third player and the usual D&D gamemaster, Steven, took Gunnery Sgt. Eli Plyler, the old man of the squad who just wants to get home alive and can’t stand his arrogant commanding officer. He also has the ability to scream, “Goddamn it!” so loud that ears bleed and walls collapse.

Getting the squad to the scene was no problem. I explained they were a replacement team, joining the invasion for the mop up phase of the campaign. The travel from ship to front of battle via a bumpy truck ride and arrive just in time to be sent to save Company B pinned down in a ravine outside of Flores Point. After viewing the situation from a distance, the players decide to send the nearly invisible Schreiber to contact the Marines while the rest of the squad takes two hours to crawl down a ravine that connects to the one that the Marines are hiding in. Schreiber reached the platoon without a hitch, but it takes a while to convince the jumpy Marines that the almost invisible man with the thick German accent is there to help them.

While they wait for the rest of the SIS squad to arrive Schreiber and the NPC Marine commander come up with a solid plan – Schreiber will take the nearest building using his fading power. Once the occupants have been dispatched, he will signal the advance and half of Company B will advance while the other half provide cover fire.

Lt. Winfield was frustrated to find that a plan had already been hatched by the time he arrived. But he did end up offering a helpful suggestion – alert headquarters about the strange seaplane sitting in the harbor.

The printed scenario called for giving the SIS team about 15 minutes to stop the plane before it launched. I chose not to start that clock ticking until all of the SIS team arrived. I didn’t feel it was fair otherwise.

So headquarters warns the Iowa of a enemy seaplane and the battleship began shelling the harbor (nice shelling rules, by the way). Schreiber insisted on using the shelling as a diversion and heads to the occupied building while the Iowa lobbed VW sized missiles.

One of those missiles happened to score a direct hit on the seaplane and took out it’s creator.

Schreiber took out the two Japanese soldiers before they knew what hit them. But the advance of the three fire teams from Company B and the SIS squad was no cakewalk. The fire team suffered two casualties and the SIS squad did as well (determined by random dice). Mrs. Plyler was widowed by a bullet that, ironically struck Eli the screamer in the mouth. The bullet severed the base of his spine and killed him instantly. The Talent Corpsman was able to save one of the wounded members of Company B by turning to stone and carrying him to safety then treating his chest wound.

With everyone holed up in one building, Schreiber tries the same tactic on a second building. This one he finds occupied by four Japanese, one armed with a machinegun. He tosses a grenade but one of the Japanese falls on it to save his companions. The others open fire in the faded man’s direction while the machine gun pounds away on the marine’s position.

Sure that Schreiber’s mission has failed, the NPC Marine Lt. of Company B sends some of his men to take an unoccupied building and start a cross fire. Two men die in the movement, but a lucky shot by a SIS member with no shooting powers takes out a sniper.

Things appear to be turning around for the Marines when the SIS squad suffered its second fatality. Lance Cpl Terry Redden was known for his uncanny luck, but when he decided to take a machinegunner out through a small hole in the wall, his luck ran out. Redden’s bullet found its target, but at the same instant, so did a bullet from the machinegun. They died simultaneously.

It just so happened that Steven was also playing this character and picked him up as his primary after the death of Sgt. Plyler.

Schreiber managed to kill the rest of his opponents and save himself from being wounded in the process. He then went about taking out a machinegun bunker using grenades. At this point the remaining Japanese forces turned suicidal. One of the machinegun operators detonated an explosive on his bunker that left Schreiber stunned. The occupants of another building began falling on their own grenades. The remaining machine gun nest was cleared out with the precise shooting of Lt. Wingfield’s pistols.

With little left to mop up, I decided to end the game session there. I’d originally hoped to play through the next scene where the marines have to hold the base through the night as they are hit by a series of suicide charges, but the hours had flown by and it was late.

Overall, the players enjoyed the game as did I. The combat ran quickly and smoothly thanks to my extra preparation.

The players pointed out that this scenario really favored a character like Schreiber rather than others. This was true, but I feel not all of the scenarios in Saipan are stacked that way. There are plenty of opportunities for each of the characters to shine – if they can just manage to live that long.

Wrapping Up

Overall, I give Saipan a high grade. The characters are fantastic. The scenarios are challenging. A couple of the encounters could use some more support material, especially the big battles; and there is one scene, the last one, Number 14, that I would suggest playing out of order. In it, the SIS Marines are sent to figure out why everyone who enters a gulch ends up killing themselves. It’s a good encounter and a thought-provoking challenge to players. Chronologically, it makes sense to put it last. But it is just too grim a note to end a campaign upon.

I’d suggest running it before Flores Point and the suicidal charge. It still fits in the historic chronology and allows the players the chance to end the campaign on a higher note.