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  WWW.BULLYPULPITGAMES.COM
  NIGHT WITCHES ONE SHOT 
  PASHKOVSKAYA NOCTURNE
  WHAT THIS IS ABOUT
  This document consists of a guided one-shot that includes 
  creating characters, building an airbase and playing out a 
  few day and night cycles. Your goal should be to introduce 
  the players to the world of Night Witches and show off the 
  system and color. The episodic nature of missions means you 
  can fill a two or four hour time frame easily. 
  WHAT YOU NEED
  To use this you’ll need a copy of Night Witches, nature 
  playbooks, move sheets, and the third duty station handout 
  (Pashkovskaya). Also: Pencils, dice, mission pool tokens, 
  snacks, water and index cards. 
  PREP
  To prepare, print out all the necessary documents. In each 
  playbook, CHECK OFF SEVEN MARKS. Choose however you like, 
  leaning toward stuff that is either more interesting long-term 
  or doesn’t present an opportunity for action and drama. 
  Ultimately this is a minor decision; the key is to leave four 
  marks and “Embrace Death” to apply some thematic pressure.
  Invite no more than four adult players. Seriously! Six will 
  want to play but be strong or everyone will have a bad time. 
  Don’t play with children either.
  When it is time to play, welcome everyone. Discuss safety and 
  make sure they know they are free to leave the table at any 
  time without harming the game. Consider using an X-Card. 
  OVERVIEW
  Once everybody is checked in and ready to play, give them 
  the one minute overview:
  We’re playing Soviet women in an all-female night 
  bomber regiment during World War Two. We’ll be pilots, 
  navigators, mechanics and political officers.
  Our mission is to harass the German army, which has 
  invaded our country. The war is brutal and horrific.
  We fly obsolete biplanes and drop bombs or, when we 
  don’t have bombs, railroad ties on the Germans. Things 
  are desperate. It is incredibly dangerous. We fly in 
  darkness, sometimes a dozen missions each night.
  The Soviet army wishes we didn’t exist and nobody 
  expects us to succeed. We are going to succeed anyway.
  CHOOSING PLAYBOOKS,  
  MAKING CHARACTERS
  Ask them to choose playbooks and make characters together. 
  You don’t need to make one but you can if you want, possibly 
  to use as an NPC to fill out the Section and also as an 
  example. They should have a name, Role, look/background, 
  rank and stats. Ask each player to describe their character 
  as a raw recruit, still in civilian clothes a year ago. How could 
  you tell their Role from the way they carried themselves? How 
  could you tell their Nature by the way they dressed?
  TAKING THE OATH
  Have all the players stand, and stand yourself. Administer 
  the following oath: 
  I, [NAME], promise to rise to the defense of my 
  Motherland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 
  as a fighting man [sic] of the Worker’s and Peasant’s 
  Red Army, I promise to defend it bravely, skillfully, 
  with dignity and honor, sparing neither my blood 
  nor my life itself for the achievement of total victory 
  over our enemies.
  THE SITUATION IN “trood gur-NEEK-ah”
  Once everyone has a feel for their character, explain what’s 
  been going on during the previous year:
  After accelerated training you were thrown immediately 
  into the war. Your first duty station was a hell-hole called 
  Trud Gornyaka that was basically on the front lines for six 
  months. Mud alternated with ice, you flew out of open fields, 
  and women died terrible deaths right before your helpless 
  eyes—their planes turned into torches by anti-aircraft 
  artillery or German night fighters. You lost a lot of friends. 
  You flew every night.
  ADVANCEMENT
  Ask them to Advance their characters four times, encouraging 
  them to take no more than two from each category and 
  explaining the benefits of each. Ask them not to change 
  the duty station unless you are prepared to roll with that. 
  Feel free to ask them why they were promoted or how they 
  got that medal.
  (continued on back)
  
  PAGE 2 OF 4
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  NIGHT WITCHES ONE SHOT 
  PASHKOVSKAYA NOCTURNE (CONTINUED)
  FINAL QUESTIONS
  As a final step in character creation, ask them what 
  has changed about their character’s appearance after 
  a year of hard fighting, and ask them a pointed question 
  as well, such as:
   
   What did you lie about on your regimental intake form?
   
   Who do you routinely see from your brother unit, the well 
  equipped, all-male 218th night bomber regiment, and where, 
  and why?
   
   Whose funeral did you miss by volunteering for flight 
  training?
   
   What does the Marxist-Leninist struggle against the forces 
  of reaction mean to you personally?
   
   What happened the last time a crowd of brother airmen wolf 
  whistled at you?
   
   When has your sexuality gotten you in trouble?
   
   Whose picture will you tape to your plane’s dash?
   
   When we search your footlocker, what surprising thing  
  do we find?
  THE SITUATION IN “pash-KOV-ska”
  You should have really interesting, well-differentiated 
  characters now. Hopefully this took about half an hour. Paint 
  a picture of Pashkovskaya for them:
  Pashkovskaya was once a civilian airfield, about 10 
  kilometeres from the major city of Krasnodar. Now it 
  is home to the 588th and their brother unit, the 218th 
  Night Bomber Regiment. Resources are shared uneasily, 
  and unevenly.  When they aren’t mocking you they are 
  stealing from you.
  FILLING OUT THE DUTY STATION SHEET
  Introduce them to the Pashkovskaya duty station sheet. Fill 
  it out together, allowing the players to take the lead. 
  Based on their characters, choose two threats to push, 
  cherry-picking the most interesting angles for your group. 
  If you have a particular threat in mind, feel free to jump in 
  on answering a question or two — maybe you know when 
  Lieutenant General Miroshnichenko should arrive for his 
  inspection, for example. 
  Be sure to have them draw the airbase!
  Once you have an airbase, some characters and a couple of 
  threats, you are ready to play!
  OPENING QUESTION
  Begin with a dawn debrief after a mission. Appoint the 
  ranking character Section leader and ask her player what 
  they did when they saw D-Section fly into a  solid wall of 
  flak ahead of them. If they charged ahead, damage two of the 
  planes and give out some harm (2 for one character, 1 for two 
  others). If they turned back, damage one of the planes and 
  immediately drag the Section leader in for an NKVD informal 
  interview as a reward for her timidity and weakened resolve.
  
  PAGE 3 OF 4
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  NIGHT WITCHES ONE SHOT 
  THREATS AT PASHKOVSKAYA 1
  MEN ARE ASSHOLES 
  GENDER POLITICS
   
   Lieutenant General Igor Miroshnichenko, Commander 
  of the Fourth Air Army, is coming to visit, and somebody 
  decided the 588th would entertain him and “lift morale” 
  among the all-male 218th Night Bomber Regiment by 
  staging a talent show or dance mixer in an old barn on the 
  airbase. Participation is mandatory and a bad show will 
  reflect poorly on the regiment. (Make the Night Witches act 
  like women, laugh at the women of the 588th)
   
   Lieutenant General Miroshnichenko shows up with the 
  aggressive fighter ace Senior Lieutenant Yekaterina 
  Budanova in tow. Budanova serves with the 9th Fighter 
  Regiment and considers the all-female units something of 
  a joke. The event in the General’s honor only reinforces her 
  feelings. (Spotlight a female ace, laugh at the women of the 
  588th)
   
   After a particularly successful mission, the 218th Night 
  Bomber Regiment takes public credit. (Send Major Popov 
  of the all-male 218th Night Bomber Regiment over, Take 
  credit)
   
   Mechanic-armorers from the 218th are caught stealing 
  barrels of engine lubricants, which they claim to have a more 
  urgent need for. (“Borrow” resources and equipment, Break 
  the rules and get away with it, Make the Night Witches act 
  like men)
   
   Major Popov’s son, 20-year-old Junior Lieutenant Kiril 
  “Kiryusha” Popov, a dashing co-pilot, tries to befriend a 
  navigator. He’s reviled in his own regiment as a nepotistic 
  daddy’s boy. He’s lonely, obviously well-connected and 
  handsome. (Make the Night Witches act like women, Send 
  Major Popov of the all-male 218th Night Bomber Regiment 
  over if anyone messes with his son)
  THE NKVD IS DANGEROUS 
  PARANOIA AND THE SOVIET STATE
   
   Lt. Svetlana Sheremeteva, Deputy Regimental Politruk, is 
  an evil toad who will pressure and manipulate the women 
  of the Regiment to her own ends. A closeted lesbian, Sveta 
  will corner a likely airwoman and put the moves on her, 
  making it clear that if her advances are rebuffed there will 
  be trouble. (Look for violations of Articles 58 and 133, Put 
  pressure on their families)
   
   After an unsuccessful mission, Captain Barsukova will 
  single someone (or multiple someones) out for a chat, 
  triggering the Informal interview move. This may lead to 
  further complications as moves snowball. (Demand greater 
  zeal and productivity, Look for violations of Articles 58 and 
  133)
   
   Captain Barsukova volunteers the Section for day labor in 
  Pashkovsky village, where she has set up a Comsomol youth 
  league that needs advisors for their agricultural projects. 
  Anyone spending their day tending cabbages will suffer 
  1-harm as they go without rest. (Demand assistance in a 
  nearby village, Demand greater zeal and productivity).
   
   A film crew arrives to document the novelty of an all-
  female Regiment, under the auspices of the NKVD (this 
  dovetails nicely with Lieutenant General Miroshnichenko’s 
  visit). The crew will cause all sorts of trouble — sharing 
  their vodka in after-hours parties, making inappropriate 
  advances, asking difficult questions, demanding to fly 
  along on missions. Barsukova and Sheremeteva will tag 
  along to official interviews and give them endless support 
  and encouragement. (Send reporters from Komsomolskaya 
  Pravda, Put pressure on their families)
  
  PAGE 4 OF 4
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  NIGHT WITCHES ONE SHOT 
  THREATS AT PASHKOVSKAYA 2
  THE REGIMENT IS FULL OF DRAMA 
  LIFE DURING WARTIME
   
   2-Squadron B-Section has a reputation as a bunch of 
  roughnecks. They are bullies and mean girls, not prone 
  to military discipline and not very effective. Chief of Staff 
  Captain Lobodeva, in an effort to break up the little gang, 
  transfers a couple into A-Section. They will not be happy to 
  be placed among proper Soviet airwomen and look for every 
  opportunity to get their new Section in trouble, and their old 
  friends in B-Section are always spoiling for a brawl. (Brew 
  up petty rivalries, introduce know-it-all veterans)
   
   The new replacements are green as grass and wide-eyed 
  with apprehension and barely-concealed terror. Rumor has it 
  that the pretty one is the daughter of a senior Party official, 
  and that if anything happens to her very bad things will 
  follow. (Spread rumors and gossip, introduce green recruits)
   
   It’s someone’s name day, and Sergeant Kataeva has 
  procured a large quantity of alcohol. How many ways can 
  this go wrong? The alcohol has been diverted from use in 
  explosives (meaning the potential for dud bombs), it’s been 
  adulterated and is way too potent, word of the party spreads 
  out of control, somebody has to fly drunk, the list goes on. 
  (Celebrate a name day, spread rumors and gossip)
   
   An official letter arrives for someone from home, bearing bad 
  news — the person they write home to is dead, or captured, 
  or missing, or imprisoned as appropriate. The very best way 
  to deliver this news is in the form of Captain barsukova, who 
  has opened and read the letter in advance. (Deliver very bad 
  news from home)
  THE RED ARMY IS A PAIN IN THE ASS 
  DYSFUNCTION AND DISARRAY
   
   An entire batch of magnetos are defective and spares can’t 
  be had for love or money. Well, for money, anyway — the 
  Supply Sergeant of the 218th has a few, but the price 
  will be high and not paid in rubles. This may trigger the 
  Scrounge or Repair moves. (Delay vital supplies, Demand 
  a “consideration” — or steal from them)
   
   An inspector from the Central Directorate of Rear Services 
  of the Soviet Army Air Forces, 4th Air Army Logistics and 
  Supply Commissariat arrives to look over the Regiment’s 
  books and address irregularities. Someone clearly informed 
  after a necessary theft or other dodgy practices.  (Call them 
  to account, rat them out)
   
   Promotion paperwork fails to arrive — perhaps someone 
  chose a promotion Advance and the ceremony was 
  being delayed until the arrival of Lieutenant General 
  Miroshnichenko. (Delay vital paperwork)
   
   Some truck drivers show up in the 588th’s area looking for 
  a good time, maybe with a treasure trove of rare goods to 
  trade. Refined sugar, Irish whiskey, American lend-lease 
  canned goods, perfume, a Turkish carpet, a German bayonet. 
  Maybe it is a military police or NKVD sting operation. 
  (Loiter around the airbase looking for a party, rat them out)
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Night Witches (PbtA)/Sheets/night_witches_oneshot.pdf