Designer's Notes: GURPS WWII: Return to Honor
The following is excerpted from the October 18, 2002, Pyramid Magazine article. It is Copyright © 2002 by Steve Jackson Games and is used by permission. The entire article, including adventure seeds, is available through Pyramid Magazine.
Gene Seabolt and I first discussed GURPS WWII: Return to Honor in June 2001. Shortly thereafter, the project was passed on to another (unnamed) author and I began work on the British sourcebook, All the King's Men. It wasn't until March 2002 that Return to Honor was dropped back into my lap, together with a less-than-ideal six-week deadline. In addition, the original manuscript was written as a 32-page book, but between first and final draft, the decision was made to upgrade it to 48 pages.
Creating an accurate -- and enjoyable -- sourcebook in six weeks would have been hard enough, but expanding it to 150% of its original size was even harder. But thanks to some great work by Gene Moyers, Jeffery McGonagill, Gene Seabolt, Hans-Christian Vortisch, and others, the finished product is not only 50% larger than the initial work, but at least 50% better!
One of the toughest issues to address was France's lack of preparation for the German attack and the resulting routs in the spring of 1940. The value of the Maginot Line as a fortification has been argued ever since the war, but the reality is that Germany simply by-passed the line in an end-run that caught everyone by surprise.
Was the Maginot Line a waste of time and money? Could it have withstood an assault by the Wehrmacht? Those are questions better left for an alternate-history worldbook. The fact is that the Maginot Line helped create a false sense of security (the Maginot mentality) in French citizens, soldiers, and politicians, that slowed response times and was at least partially responsible for the apparent lack of offensive action on the part of the French.
A second problem facing the French army was lack of morale and a lack of willingness to become involved in another bloody, drawn-out war such as they had seen a generation before. Official French military doctrine proposed hunkering down and defending tenaciously rather than taking the fight to the Germans. But such a static defense would prove useless against the rapidly moving German forces, and French soldiers quickly surrendered when faced with onrushing tanks and screaming Stukas. A flood of refugees choked French troop movements, and the German advance was so rapid that no one seemed to know where the front was at any given moment.
Rommel's 7th Panzer Division -- called the "Ghost Division" because of its sudden and unexpected appearances -- roared through the countryside surprising barracks of resting French soldiers, overrunning retreating French units, and terrifying French refugees.
Deep behind the so-called "Front," Rommel was approached by a villager who patted his arm, smiling:
"Are you English?" she asked, apparently pleased to see the armored division in her hometown.
"No, Madam," Rommel replied. "I am German."
"Oh!" The village women shrieked, fleeing Rommel's side. "The barbarians!"
Besides being an amusing anecdote, the above illustrates the confusion surrounding the rapid German advance, and helps explain the French reaction to the Battle of France.
One of the most difficult things about writing Return to Honor was to capture the attitudes and atmosphere of that period without implying that French soldiers were cowardly or lazy. Their lack of morale stemmed from poor training and an unwillingness to repeat the bloody trench warfare of 1914-1919. And the fear the onrushing German army came from self-preservation, not cowardice. Still, the fact remains that the majority of the French units broke quickly during those bleak spring days of 1940; a fact that has been excused, explained, justified, and even re-written in the sixty years since.
Capturing these moments in a roleplaying supplement, however, was a singularly difficult task. But after extensive playtesting, editing, and rewriting, it's my hope that the facts speak for themselves. I believe that the heroism of the French armies throughout the war makes it clear that it was the circumstances of the battle -- not the men involved in it -- that resulted in the tragic defeat in 1940. As the book's title indicates, France was able to return to the honor she once had -- a task that would have been impossible without the heroic determination of the Free French soldiers, resistance operatives, stalwart civilians, and unwavering leadership.
In the end, I hope Return to Honor provides GMs and players with an abundance of information for many hours of gaming. From the start of the phony war to the liberation of Paris, adventures galore await those willing to aid France in her Return to Honor . . .
