Re: Deep immersion DiD campaign

Sounds good, thanks for the brainwork. I never did D&D, after my time but the Dungeonmaster sounds great. (I do as least know what a Dungeonmaster is, I have seen 'Big Bang Theory" a few times) As to the reports - we could just present our own periodically, if we want to brag or whine.

Raine,
Sounds like a ripping good time old boy! As for scoring, I really do not see any need. For myself, and speaking only for myself, number of missions and the fact that I am still alive is how I judge myself and other pilots, not some number. Not opposed to it if someone wants to keep up with it.
I’m in!

Sounds brilliant! If possible in my schedule, I'll try and keep a little log of everybody's victories, just as an interesting thing to have as we go along, as well as a "Top Aces List"! Of course - surviving matters more than killing

Great, I’m in, only normally after two weeks I’m killed

Jerbear, Wulfe, Dutch, MFair -- great to have the stalwarts on board. With luck we may see some of our former heros added to the list. I'll post a reminder when we "go live" for optional training in December and again when we're cleared to transfer to the front in January.

Sounds good!!
Agree there is no need for a scoring system.
I won't be using any 'aids'. (IMHO you can't claim to be playing 'deep immersion' when you have a bunch of "magic video-game crap" on your screen.)

Dear Raine, wonderful idea! I really hope you have enough stamina for another 3 years worth of war guiding us, the misfits, through it all.
I am looking forward to Wulfe’s spreadsheet. I am all for keeping score even if it is just for “history’s” sake and of course to keep tabs on dastardly foe.
May I suggest that the squadron transfer 10 mission requirement be also augmented by at least 10 hours of flight time? Missions can easily be made very short with “engine failures”.
Suggestion 2: your next pilot must be of the nationality your previous pilot was shot down by. So, if a German pilot killed your current pilot, your next pilot you create must be German. If you were shot down by the French, you will be resurrected as a French pilot and so on. I still haven’t figured out what happens when you get killed by friendly fire - collide with your own. Perhaps you get free reins as a consolation?
The Barmy Factor - if your wingman falls, you have to get a drink in his honour. If he is gone to Valhalla, get yourself a Pilsner. Off to Champs Elisees? A nice red wine. And if he’s gone to hell, then a Scotch will have to do. Also, make sure to have a drink with every HA in your squadron whenever you can. Bwoc!
Try to enlist in the same squadron as the other players and include them in your narrative.
Every pilot must meet at least one nurse when wounded and spending time in hospital. Just because you’re out of action doesn’t mean that the action stops.
Bring it on!

Sounds awesome. Ill definitely join up.

I hoped there would be a third campaign. Glad to see this.

My participation in the Centenary has been a bit spotty. At present I haven't been near my pc for a month. That's what new babies do for you. All I seem to do is work and change nappies.

Hopefully I can redeem my ww1 flying status by January!

Fullofit, Maeran -- Great to have you join. I was hoping to hear from you both. 77Scout -- I agree with you, but I confess that sometimes when flying escort missions I turn the TAC on (set to surface units so I won't cheat too much) to get a bearing to an RV location . Hope to have you join!

Be sure to note the dot visibility distance rule. I want to try this for the first time in the new campaign.

I'll be there too. Nace to take a break till Jan 1919

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Outstanding! I was hoping someone would take up the mantle and begin a new DID campaign, well done Raine. I am looking to have free time to not only participate in this but also post a regular chart if folks would like. I still have all the artwork and medals and such from the previous campaigns here and could create a new chart for this one simply enough. Wulfe, if you are keeping score, and if you wouldn't mind, you could send me the info and I could load it into the chart along with medals earned and post it every week or two.

I am looking forward to this event with much anticipation!

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Here is a sample of a chart I could post that would show all the pilots' stats as well as small images of the medals awarded, (very similar to what we've used in the past here). Let me know what you folks think.



Cheers!

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Gentlemen;

I would like to participate in this DiD campaign but I am currently heavily involved in developing skins for WOTR. As a result I may not be contributing on a constant basis and there may be significant gaps.
If this is acceptable, please let me know. If not, I understand.

Best Regards;

cool

This is shaping up to be another outstanding bit of flying and story telling! Robert, I am sure whatever your contributions are will be most appreciated.

Me and the miss are traveling at the moment. On our return I will be taking full advantage of hunting season since retirement. Then it will be time to fire up WOFFUE again and die a glorious death or two, or three, or four.

Thanks for getting this going Raine.
I will take a shot at, though I am not the wordsmith others are.
I am sure my reports will be rather bland.

This looks like a ton of fun, and a great excuse to get back into flying, but am I correct in reading that the intended "end date" of this campaign will be November of 2020? Either way, I'd love to join in, but I'm currently trying to get a (seasonal) job on a ship next summer, and would have to drop off the face of the Earth in early April until mid October if I got it. Would that disqualify me from joining in?

Mortuus , the end date would be 11th November 2021.

Plenty of life on this one!

Jesus, I can't even do math today. Thanks Maeran!

That is true, but for some of us that are getting long in the tooth, surviving to the end date may be a challenge in itself

Mr. Wiggins - I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say you are most welcome anytime you can drop in. Nobody is going to be upset about your gaps and I'm sure we're all going to have them. I know I will have to drop in and out during busy times with my work and that inconvenience called life. Another problem most of will probably have is the pull of the new WOTR. I plan to stick my toe in that soon. Look forward to seeing your wonderful skins.

I will be there. I have not missed one of these, and my old brain cells just said " you won the last campaign". Not to bad for the Old coger at 81years.

I'm in then!

I'm thrilled to see so many interested. Anyone is welcome to join at any time, of course. Once the campaign is underway, simply start your journey on today's date in the war year currently being played.

Thanks to Fullofit for the 10 mission rule suggestion -- I think we'll use it (I'll update the rules in late November). What do you think of his suggestion that if you lose your first pilot, your second one should be from the nationality that downed your first one? Of course, that implies that if you're downed by ground fire, you have to dig a hole in your back garden and live in it until war's end (Bwoc).

Robert and Mortuus -- don't worry about gaps when you're away from WOFF. We're doing this for fun, after all. If you want to, you could build your hiatus into your character's account and contribute stories when away from the front. Story suggestions for covering absences from the campaign include: illness and recuperation (for example, ear or eye problems associated with flying), assignment to Home Establishment for British flyers, a compulsory tour of allied nations like Turkey or Bulgaria for the Germans (like Boelcke's time away), attendance at new aircraft competitions or assessments (for the Germans -- these became more common a bit later in the war), morale or fund raising tours (Banjoman did one of these with his pilot in Olham's DiD campaign -- a Victory Bond tour in the US replete with celebrities), training on new aircraft types (for the Germans, a stint in Jastaschule like Julius Buckler was sent away for), a charge and subsequent court martial, etc.

As long as it doesn't get overdone, the occasional adventure that involves flying away from the front can be an enjoyable break when you need one as well as an entertaining story. In one DiD campaign I had a pilot fly on a secret mission to a British internment camp in Switzerland (it was fun flying in the Alps at night) and later flying from London to Leeds for anl investiture.

Welcome to the latest joiners: my great friend Robert Wiggins, Maeran (whose Cadogan West stories were marvellous), Jerbear and Wulfe (two fairly recent DiD addicts with real talent for creating characters), Stache (don't fret about writing -- how about making your reports in the form of letters home, just the way you'd really do it?), CW3SF (who has never missed a campaign), Dark Canuck (a great guy to share a Guinness with and a welcome WOFFer), Lederhosen (unparalleled pictures), MFair (a great pal and the sponsor of OBD!!!!), Mortuus, and....

Louvert! Lou has long been a mainstay of this sim and is one of our master modders, with many additions that have brought us the French forts, many famous airfields, the bombsight, Havrincourt Wood, and so much more. His new Belfort mod promises to be an outstanding addition. And we can't forget the countless hours of work he's put into his collection of maps that allow true navigation within the sim. Great to have you aboard, Lou, and thank you for your offer to work with Wulfe data to produce a beautiful scoring log. I suggest that with respect to awards, I'll PM you with recommendations periodically and you play higher command, checking the recommendation for historical accuracy and approving it, then making the award in your traditional and esteemed appointment as the Gong Fairy. Does this work for you?

Cheers to all,

Raine

Another question, then - will this campaign have any rules regarding what mods we can use while participating, if any?

A sugestion. like in real pilots life, there was no selecting by any student pilot in which jasta/sqaudron/escadrille he wanting to join inn, no that discission was made by some kind of staff.
My sugestion is: I provide mr Raine a name and country I wanting to serve. While the staff (=mr Raine) give me the jasta/squadr and date I can join.

As a sample:
name: Antony Smith born 2-3-1895 in London.
nat: UK

Staff answer, you are registrated to RFC No66 date 2-jan-1916. rank Lt, novice

The fun is that you will fly a plane, regios or whatever you never would have choisen. It could be a drama like I did dislike the Fokker EIV but like in real pilots life, you did not have lots of choices.

Dutch,

I'd like that personally. I've often wished that WOFF allowed greater randomization of squadrons at enlistment, or even assigned transfers to you. That way you'd be like a real new pilot, and you would not simply be able to pick the best aircraft. You might also discover new challenges within WOFF you haven't experienced yet.

If people want this, I'd promise not to stick them with a terrible machine for ever! Assignment to better aircraft would come in time. Also, I'd devise my own die roll based randomization system to make assignments for us so that there would be no way to play favorites. Anyone else interested?

Mortuus,

I think landscape and texture mods, cloud mods, and the like are up to you. But mods that alter aircraft capability such as mods that make rounds more visible than was the case historically should not be on. I'd ask the group's history buffs to suggest any mods that should be excluded so as to keep us on a solid historical footing.

Ohhh, I like that suggestion Dutch! This bloody war will be totally out of my hands. The only problem I see is if you get stuck with some obscure squad that you can’t find any decent info on, there will be nothing to write about. Thank God for transfers!
Raine, will you impose materiel rations for periods of time? For example: if flying for Germany, set your fuel to 60% for the entire month. Then 40% next month and so on. Or, no Prieur rockets for entire month for French in some random month, or shortage of bombs, etc.
I also like the idea of doing new fighter testing when appropriate time comes. This, I understand, can be accomplished with Triple-J’s Mission Editor. We just need the direction from the Dungeon Master to tell us that we’ve been selected for this task. Of course, you have to be high enough rank to be selected in the first place.
Have you also given a thought how to handle lone wolf missions in the early stages? Do you have to be certain rank and have certain number of missions/flying hours under your belt before allowed to do this? Will the DM make us fly them?

I was thinking more along the lines of mission mods, to be honest.

Hmmmm....well a liberal dousing with some fine scotch should glean some favoritism from the red tabs I suspect and in the end it just might be that the die are "loaded" in my favour!!

Robert,

All liquid bribery gratefully accepted. I'm a weak man.

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I am loving these ideas, not the least of which the liquid bribery!

Raine, handling the awards as you've suggested would work fine for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I must let my hat out a size or two after all your high praises.

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Sounds like this is going to be quite the intense campaign!

...I'll have the Norman Franks books on standby...

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I've been thinking about this upcoming campaign and I believe I will start as an American who travels to Canada to enlist and train as a pilot in the RFC. I am planning on starting right away in December (1915) and being in England for that month at one of the training squadrons. Raine, am I correct in assuming that, in your role as dungeon master, you would hand down the assignment as to which squadron my pilot would be sent to for training? I can use QC missions to handle all the training flights and go into the workshop and set it to record all training flights in my log book. Back when I added all the extra aerodromes in England I made sure there would be a goodly selection of the ones historically used by a fair number of the training squadrons and flying schools, so you should have a lot of options in terms of the assignments.

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Hello gents! Long time no see.

Real life totally ruined my previous attempt at DID flying, but I'm definitely interested in joining this new campaign. I had tremendous fun with the older DID, and my pilot even managed to survive the war, much to my surprise.

Since my main interest has always been German aviation and therefore I have the most historical knowledge about it, I'd like to join the new campaign as a German army two-seater pilot and see how it goes.

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Hasse! Great to see you Sir, I've just recently gotten back into the WOFF skies myself. This upcoming campaign has the potential to be epic.

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Good to see you too, Lou!

Reading Raine's ideas, I can see there's definitely potential for some epic flying here.

As always with DID, it's either the Iron Cross or the wooden cross.

Lou, how about your Yank and my Canuck meet in early training in Canada and ship over together? If folks are up for it, I'd love to DM the initial assignments. Just let me know a bit about your man and I'll assign your training field in the UK (if you're British). The assignment will be historically plausible. I'll also specify the squadron you'll be posted to. No promises where -- you may not love what you'll fly, but it will be realistic. I will, however, keep a "kharma log", so that if you're really good putting up with a crap machine, you'll be somewhat more likely to be rewarded in the future.

Hasse, it's so good to see you here!!! I just re-read your final posts in Olham's campaign and remember how touching they were. Delighted to have you aboard!

MFair, if you're listening in, if your pilot is American, want to join Lou and me?

Anyone interested in putting in training hours, either in the campaign's training flights or in Quick Combat free flight (with hours logged for the campaign) can do so in December 2018 / 1915, but deployment to the front will occur only in January.

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Raine, the idea of having your pilot and mine meet up in Canada is outstanding! I am thinking that my fellow will leave his home in Minnesota and travel up to Winnipeg to enlist, at which point he would be sent east and could meet up with your chap in Ottawa or Montreal or any likely spot where their paths would intersect on their way to the coast and to the ship that would be taking them across. As backstory, my lad will have already caught several rides in airships and aeroplanes at county fairs and such, which is where he got the itch to take to the clouds.

To the training in England, remember that OldHat put together an entire series of training flights based on a list I gave him of how it tended to be done back in the day. Also, for that series, I had modified Thetford and Catterick aerodromes to add the needed training targets, and both of those are already in Robert's Consolidated Aerodromes pack. Here are the links to OldHat's training programs:

Custom Mission Building Series

A Simplified Training Script


Oh yes, this is really starting to take shape.

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This is really coming together and I am quite excited! I can't wait to roll up my character.

Raine,
Yes, I have my ears on and yes I will start as an American flying for the RFC. Had been thinking of going to Canada and joining the Army Ambulance Service, volunteer as an observer, then start the DID in pilot training. Sound familiar? But, I can change it a bit. Makes no nevermind to me. All I know for sure is my pilot will be from the south as I don’t know how to be anyone else. Just keep in mind, you and Lou are light years ahead of me in the story telling department. That said, some of the most fun I had in the last DID was flying with you and also flying in the squadron Lou was commanding. My mom still has the walking stick carved from the Camel prop I died in. Did someone mention the word epic! Oh yes, this will be great.

Just for clarification: do we get to choose our starting unit, or is it decided by the powers that be?

I'm considering a few different options for my pilot.

I am totally happy to have headquarters (Raine) assign me as would happen in real life. In fact, I prefer it!!

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I prefer it as well, Scout. It will make it that much more interesting and historically apropos.

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I have most of British and German training mission files, if anyone feels they know how to insert them into their campaign I can expand them to include friendly AI controlled flights so air does not look so empty.

Hasse,

It seems most would like the "Dungeon Master" to play War Office / HQ of the Feldflugchef and assign pilots to a historically appropriate place for training and to their first operational squadrons. I'm happy to take into consideration your preferences based on a story line if you're already thinking of the path you'd like to follow. Please PM me about this so that I can do the appropriate research.

I'll publish more detailed campaign rules in late November...

Lou, MFair:

So far it appears that our three characters are meeting in Canada. You can plan their back story as you wish, but by the time they meet, on 10 July 1915, they should be newly enrolled as civilian candidates for RFC flight training at the Curtiss School in Long Branch, Ontario. Long Branch is a community, at that time a bit of a cottage community, just west of Toronto (it's long since been absorbed by that city). In May 1915, Curtis Aeroplanes and Motors Company of Toronto opened Canada's first airfield and flying school there to train pilots for the RFC and RNAS. They start flying there in mid July and graduate together in early October. After a two-week leave they depart by train for the coast. The route takes them on a three-day trip to Montreal and along the south side of the St Lawrence to Mont-Joli, then south through the Matapedia Valley to Campbelltown to Moncton, New Brunswick. There they change trains to Saint John, NB, where the troopship SS Scandinavian awaits.

Background info here:
Curtiss School, Long Branch

They'll train in November on Farmans (long and short-horned versions) at Castle Bromwich and gain their commissions as second lieutenants, and by December they go to their appointments at the War Office, where they are sent for the final phase of training. We'll pick up their story in December as they begin on BE2cs at Netheravon.

Raine,
Sounds good. As a heads up, I run no mods. If you and Lou go to a modded airfield, I will have to wing it or go to another school. Looking forward to this.

MFAIR

I'm curious why you do not run modded airfields,
Would you be willing to explain?

Robert, not at all Sir. I am a computer dummy. If WOFF has a hiccup, it is one less thing I have to take into account. It may be simple to a lot of folks but we are all ignorant in different ways. One day I may take the plunge but not at the present time. When I do, someone will have to hold my hand through the process.

Well, when you are ready, we can dialogue on it. I believe you will find it quite simple once you start.

Best Regards

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Great minds, Raine! I had been looking at incorporating the Curtiss School at Long Branch into my pilot's backstory, to the point of already having downloaded the pdf file you referenced.

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So Raine, I went looking this morning because I thought your outline of our pilots' stops and travel route sounded familiar as did the name of the boat they will be crossing on. Am I correct in assuming you've referenced the Greenhous book, "A Rattle of Pebbles", as your inspiration? If so, good on you Sir. If not, an amazing coincidence.

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Great minds. I'm using that source, plus rereading the sections on pilot training in Briscoe's 1918 "Captain Ball VC,", "Sagittarius Rising", and several other books, plus a treatise on British pilot training -- trying to get back up to date. I reconfirmed the rail route (it's still the route for the CN Ocean express). The Scandinavian was the ship in Rattle of Pebbles, so I check sources on the Allen Line and figured it could have been the right vessel a bit earlier in 1915.

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Raine, (I'm sure you are already aware of this), our lads will be at Netheravon at the same time Billy Bishop is there waiting for 21 Squadron to move to France. More excellent fodder for our stories.

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Lou, good point. And I actually hadn't realized that yet. Watch out for falling RE7s, though. Actually, I just wanted to set a scene in the wonderful "Haunch of Venison" pub in Salisbury. Place dates from the 1300s and was a spot for RFC chaps on the spree. If memory serves, Sholto Douglas mentioned it in his memoirs.

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A wonderful old pub indeed Raine, and I spent several wonderful evenings enjoying its historic ambiance during the years I was stationed in England. May have to make mention of it myself in one of my stories.

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