1. Introduction
September, 1939. An office in London.
"Are you prepared to serve Great Britain by means of unconventional warfare?"
"Would you be willing to operate in enemy territory? Without benefit of uniform, perhaps even wearing an enemy uniform?"
"Are you prepared to risk not only life and limb but your sanity, your spiritual health and your immortal soul?"
"Irresponsible and Right" is a gritty campaign of occult espionage and special operations in the Second World War. Characters will be civilians and soldiers with magical talents, gathered by Bureau 5(b) of MI-5 to form a specialised unit which will be travelling around Europe to investigate occult activities and recruit, subvert or destroy the causes.
2. General rules
The points budget is 150, with up to 75 points of disadvantages (though it should probably be less). You also have a 75 point budget for "weird stuff", which will constitute your character's magical powers. (You may shift points from the main pool to the "weird stuff" pool, but not vice versa.)
2.1. Advantages
Likely Cultural Familiarities are Western, Muslim, East Asian, African and South Asian; having anything beyond Western would indicate an unusual level of foreign travel or study in the character's past. (That covers 90% of the world's population. There are others such as Australian/Aboriginal or Papuan for those who've been to really obscure places.)
Everyone is likely to have English as a native language. Having learned other languages, particularly German, will obviously be useful and is actively encouraged.
2.2. Disadvantages
Duty (Almost All the Time, Extremely Hazardous) is required; this will not count against the disadvantage limit, but will give you the 20 points even so.
It would be entirely acceptable to have Sense of Duty (Close Friends and comrades) [-5].
A larger Sense of Duty is one obvious reason why you might have agreed to all this.
2.3. Skills
2.3.1. Recommended skills
These are skills that all personnel will be encouraged to learn.
- Acting
- Diplomacy
- Disguise
- Fast-Talk
- Guns (Pistol)
- Holdout
- Intelligence Analysis
- Law
3. References
3.1. Fiction
- Sun-Cross (Barbara Hambly), published as The Rainbow Abyss and The Magicians of Night. WWII occultists and an off-world real magician.
- Lammas Night (Katherine Kurtz); not particularly recommended on literary grounds, but gives a feel for one of the traditions that's involved.
3.2. Game books
- GURPS World War II
- GURPS World War II: All the King's Men
- GURPS World War II: Weird War II - this campaign is obviously loosely based on the "Detachment 23" campaign idea, though with substantial modifications.