POWs as Characters

[rcaf_777]

From the Gateway to the Spanish Main

If the players have been captured, the following tells what possessions the players still have with them. Percentages indicate the percentage chance that the players still retain this item.

BDU, Boots, Wallet 100%
Personal Items 80%
Mess Kit, Helmet 50%
Lighter, Mask 40%
Med Kit, LBE 20%
Hidden Items 10%

BDU: Battle Dress Uniform: Shirt, Pants, Underwear. Wallet: I.D. card, dog tags, pictures of family, and 1D6 U.S. Dollars.

Personal Items: Rings, bracelets, and other jewelery not to exceed $25 value.

Mess Kit: A two-piece plate and bowl, with a knife (dull), fork, and spoon, all made of aluminum.

Lighter: Zippo style lighter with minimal alcohol fuel.

Mask: M17A1 gas mask, no spare filters and no agent antidotes.

Medical Kit: Individual battle dressing, pressure dressing.

LBE (Load Bearing Equipment): Belt, suspenders, two ammunition pouches (empty), entrenching tools case (empty), poncho, and a canteen.

Hidden Items: Pocket knife with blade under 2", compass, escape map of last battle area, ect.

Remember that the players have been taken prisoner and repeatedly frisked for weapons. The mess kit knife is useless as a weapon, and the fork prongs are too soft, but the spoon might be sharpened for use as a weapon. What the players won't have are any firearms (they were prisoners, after all), bayonets, grenades, explosives, poisons, knives sharper than butter knives or longer than two inches, entrenching tools, or other tools that could be used as weapons, anything that could be a weapon such as a club or quarter staff, nor will they have large amounts of cash or jewellery. Human nature (read "greed") of the various guards will have seen to that. Fancy multi-function wristwatches are also likely to have disappeared into a guard's pocket. Of course, it is illegal to shake down prisoners for personal gain, but it will happen anyway. Some items may surprise the characters. The Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War permits them to retain personal protective items such as helmets and protective masks. POW camps do occasionally get bombed by mistake and poison chemicals drift where the wind takes them. The referee would be very remiss to permit the players to keep body armour such as the Kevlar vest because these items cross over that invisible divide between protection from the threat of an attacker into the realm of items useful in escape attempts.

[Rainbow Six]

That's one perspective. As always, it's up the individual GM but I think that table is a bit on the optimistic side and a lot is going to depend on the severity of the regime that the prisoners are being held under.

An into I wrote recently for a potential game had the pc's as POW's and they had nothing but trousers and shirts (no boots). The premise was that they were tasked to a deniable op for a Soviet General in exchange for their freedom so the Soviets would reequip them, thus allowing the GM to control what they do / don't have.

I'd be happy to let players make pitches to retain personal items subject to a die roll, but I'd put the chances of rings / jewellery being retained at much lower than 80% (and reducing for each month spent in captivity to represent additional searches). I also think in Europe the chances of them being allowed to keep gas masks, LBE etc after they're captured. Those things are in short supply, so I doubt if anyone is going to care what the Geneva Conventions say - by the year 2000 I can't see many enemy troops being happy to let their prisoner retain his / her gas mask if they don't have one themselves. Ditto body armour / helmets.

[Olefin]

I would think that some POW's might have more on them than others - you always have the expert scroungers in any POW camp that manage to find ways to get things that no one else has - and there are ways to make weapons as well even under the tightest controls (clubs, slings, crude knives and stilettos, etc..) - you could see a character who was a medic being appointed the POW's doctor and thus having a very basic medical kit on him that whoever is running the camp allows him to have

as for shoes that also depends on where the camp is - in the tropics you could see them issued nothing but sandals and their old rotted out shoes whereas in colder areas they would be still be in their combat boots which would be on the point of giving out most likely after years of use and abuse

[Targan]

I would think that some POW's might have more on them than others - you always have the expert scroungers in any POW camp that manage to find ways to get things that no one else has - and there are ways to make weapons as well even under the tightest controls (clubs, slings, crude knives and stilettos, etc..) - you could see a character who was a medic being appointed the POW's doctor and thus having a very basic medical kit on him that whoever is running the camp allows him to have.

True. Brings to mind this guy: Tibor Rubin

He broke out of his Chinese POW camp over and over, and broke back in every time to bring food and medical supplies to his fellow POWs. What a champ.

[pmulcahy11b]

That sort of brings up another campaign-starter: some of you are outside the camp, and some are inside, and you have to bust them out...