GURPS WWII Scenario: “Shadows Over the Palace”

Setting:

Torquay, 1942. The grand Palace Hotel has been requisitioned as a convalescent hospital for RAF officers and enlisted men recovering from wounds and exhaustion. Beneath the veneer of luxury lies a microcosm of wartime tension: suspicious guests, stressed nurses, black-market dealings, and the constant hum of military bureaucracy.

Tone:

Realistic wartime drama with espionage intrigue. Emphasis on social tension, stealth, and problem-solving over brute combat.

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Key Locations in the Hotel

1. Ground Floor Lobby & Lounge – Officially a place for convalescing airmen to socialize; rumors swirl here. 2. Patient Rooms & Wards – Officers’ and enlisted men’s quarters; some rooms hide secrets (documents, radios, smuggled goods). 3. Service Corridors – Narrow, dimly lit passages used by staff to move supplies; perfect for stealth missions, secret meetings, or clandestine observation. 4. Kitchen & Storage Areas – Smuggling opportunities; stolen alcohol, cigarettes, and rationed food move through here. 5. Rooftop & Balconies – Observation points for scouts or spies; occasional snipers or enemy agents may try surveillance. 6. Basement / Boiler Rooms – Hideouts for contraband; potential escape routes or secret rendezvous points. 

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NPCs

1. Commanding Nurse Matron Evelyn Harcourt – Disciplined, sharp-eyed, suspicious of both patients and staff. Protects her nurses fiercely.

2. Flight Lieutenant Richard “Dickie” Haversham – Wounded but charming; suspected of passing messages to unknown contacts.

3. Corporal Jack “Sooty” Reynolds – RAF patient; minor injuries, expert at sneaking food and alcohol; knows the service corridors like the back of his hand.

4. “Mr. Black” / Unknown Spy – Enemy agent posing as a patient or hotel worker; objective unclear, may steal intelligence or sabotage morale.

5. Kitchen Stewardess Lorna Briggs – Involved in minor smuggling; under pressure from both black-market contacts and authorities.

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Plot Hooks

1. Smuggling Operation Gone Wrong: 

Players may discover stolen goods moving through the hotel—cigarettes, alcohol, sensitive documents. Decisions: report it, intercept it, or exploit it.

2. Espionage & Secret Messages: 

Strange behaviors among patients suggest some are passing coded messages to enemy agents. Service corridors provide routes for observation or interception.

3. Interpersonal Tension: 

Nurses and patients clash over access to scarce comforts (alcohol, cigarettes, or even quiet spaces). Misunderstandings could escalate into scandal or sabotage.

4. The Hidden Observer: 

A spy or saboteur is hiding within the hotel, possibly disguised as staff or a recovering officer. Players must gather clues, follow secret routes, and prevent a critical leak.

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Suggested Scenario Arcs

Act 1 – Arrival & Discovery

• Players arrive at the hospital, assigned roles (nurse, patient, military police, etc.). • They notice strange activities: unusual deliveries at night, whispered messages in the service corridors. • Introduce minor tensions: a quarrel between enlisted and officer patients over privileges. 

Act 2 – Investigation & Intrigue

• Players follow suspicious individuals through the service corridors, kitchens, and basements. • They uncover smuggling operations or a hidden radio transmitting messages to enemy agents. • Social interactions and stealth are key: loud confrontations could alert the spy or endanger patients. 

Act 3 – Confrontation & Resolution

• Players must intercept the smuggling or espionage operation. • Multiple solutions possible: report it to authorities, secretly replace contraband with fake items, or confront the spy directly. • Final tension could involve a chase through the labyrinthine service corridors or a tense negotiation in a deserted ward. 

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Mechanics & Play Tips

• Stealth Checks: Use Stealth/Move Silently to sneak through service corridors unnoticed. • Perception / Observation Checks: Detect hidden messages, secret doors, or suspicious behavior. • Social/Influence Rolls: Handle nurse/patient tensions without escalating conflict. • Resource Management: Limited medical supplies, alcohol, and cigarettes become bargaining chips. 

Twist Option:

Introduce a double agent: someone the players initially trust turns out to be the spy. Adds layers to player decisions—do they confront, follow, or manipulate them?

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Player Objectives

• Uncover who is smuggling or spying. • Protect patients and staff from sabotage. • Navigate social tensions carefully. • Use the hotel’s layout (service corridors, kitchens, basements) creatively for stealth, pursuit, and hiding. 

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Optional Challenges

• Unexpected Raids: Military police arrive based on false intelligence; players must avoid being wrongly accused. • Sabotaged Supplies: Rationed goods disappear, forcing players to investigate before morale collapses. • Injury or Illness: Realistic RAF patients may worsen or require aid; adds urgency to missions. 

A GURPS WWII Scenario Set in Wartime Torquay, England (May–June 1944)

Supportive Photographs and Resources Available on Google Search.

Introduction: A Resort at the Edge of History

In the late spring of 1944, Torquay no longer resembled the glittering Riviera of Devon postcards. The palm trees still stood, the red cliffs still caught the evening sun, and the bay still curved gently toward the Channel—but the town had been hollowed out by war. Hotels were requisitioned, beaches were fenced with wire, and soldiers moved through streets once reserved for holidaymakers. Torquay had become a place of waiting.

Nowhere was this transformation more apparent than at Beacon Quay, where discreet embarkation ramps had been constructed to funnel men and vehicles toward landing craft bound for France. Officially, the area was a restricted military zone. Unofficially, it was an open secret among locals that something enormous was about to happen.

The player characters arrive at this moment—on the threshold of Operation Overlord, embedded in a town where silence is policy, suspicion is currency, and a single mistake could cost hundreds of lives.

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Historical Context: Torquay and the Machinery of Invasion

Though less famous than Plymouth or Southampton, Torquay played a quiet but vital role in D-Day preparations. The natural shelter of Tor Bay, combined with its rail access and existing harbor infrastructure, made it suitable for staging smaller embarkations, specialist units, and support elements.

Beacon Quay’s ramps were hastily engineered concrete slopes reinforced with steel mats, designed to allow lorries, artillery, and light armor to roll directly into landing craft. Movements were deliberately staggered to avoid drawing attention. Troops were billeted across Torquay, Paignton, and Brixham, often sharing space with displaced civilians or living in requisitioned hotels with blacked-out windows and armed guards.

Security was absolute. Soldiers were confined, mail was censored, and rumors—accurate or otherwise—were considered dangerous. German intelligence had agents in Britain, and even one successful report on embarkation schedules could have catastrophic consequences.

This is the atmosphere in which the scenario unfolds: quiet, tense, and heavy with consequence.

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Player Characters: Roles in the Shadow War

The scenario works best if the PCs are not frontline assault troops, but individuals tasked with ensuring the invasion happens at all.

Possible character types include:

• Military Intelligence Officers (MI5 or MI6 liaison, Counter-Intelligence, Security Service) • Royal Engineers overseeing the embarkation ramps and tidal calculations • Naval Ratings or Officers coordinating landing craft schedules • Military Police or Provosts enforcing curfews and security zones • Local Home Guard Officers with intimate knowledge of Torquay’s people • Civilian Specialists (dock engineers, signalmen, linguists, or cryptographers) 

Mixed parties work well, emphasizing inter-service friction and differing priorities.

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The Central Conflict: A Leak in the System

The scenario’s tension revolves around a single, alarming possibility:

German intelligence may know more about Beacon Quay than they should.

Over the course of several days, the PCs become aware of disturbing signs:

• A fisherman reports being questioned—politely but persistently—by a “Belgian refugee” about night tides. • A coded German radio transmission intercepted in Cornwall references a “southern quay beneath red cliffs.” • A drunken soldier claims his landlady knows exactly when his unit ships out. • A sentry swears he saw a light signal blink from the cliffs above the harbor at night. 

Individually, these incidents are explainable. Together, they suggest a pattern.

The PCs must determine whether this is coincidence, paranoia, or the tip of a genuine espionage effort—and they must do so without disrupting embarkation timetables or causing panic.

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Beacon Quay: A Cinematic Setting

Beacon Quay itself should feel oppressive and fragile, despite its utilitarian appearance.

By day, it is a place of controlled chaos:

engines idling, officers shouting over wind and surf, the smell of oil and wet rope, soldiers waiting in long, silent queues beside vehicles marked with invasion stripes hastily painted over.

By night, it becomes something else entirely.

Blackout conditions turn the harbor into a void broken only by muffled footsteps, whispered orders, and the dull slap of water against hulls. Armed patrols move constantly. Searchlights remain dark unless the alarm is raised—no one wants to advertise their presence to the Luftwaffe.

The ramps themselves are the symbolic heart of the scenario: narrow bottlenecks where thousands of lives and vehicles must pass in perfect sequence. A single act of sabotage here—a loosened bolt, a mistimed tide, a planted explosive—could cripple an entire embarkation group.

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Rising Action: Investigation Under Constraint

As the invasion date approaches, time becomes the PCs’ greatest enemy.

They must conduct surveillance, interrogate suspects, and verify intelligence while constrained by:

• Strict secrecy laws (wrongful arrest of a civilian could attract dangerous attention) • Inter-service rivalry (naval officers resent army interference; intelligence officers are mistrusted) • Moral ambiguity (some suspects are innocent locals trying to survive wartime hardship) • Operational pressure (embarkations cannot be delayed without orders from London) 

The investigation may uncover:

• A genuine German agent using refugee networks and romantic entanglements • An unwitting civilian passing information through careless gossip • A red herring caused by Allied deception operations (Operation Fortitude bleeding into local rumor) • Or even an Allied serviceman compromised by fear, debt, or ideology 

The truth need not be dramatic—but its consequences are.

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Climax: The Night Before Departure

The scenario should culminate on the final night before embarkation.

Landing craft line the bay in near-total darkness. Orders are sealed. Soldiers have been told, at last, that they are going to France. Emotions run high: fear, excitement, resignation.

The PCs must act—quietly and decisively.

Perhaps they intercept a final radio transmission from the cliffs.

Perhaps they confront a suspect as vehicles begin rolling down the ramps.

Perhaps they realize the threat was misidentified, and the true danger lies elsewhere—a misplaced demolition charge, a misread tide table, a panicked officer about to make a disastrous decision.

The climax should not be a firefight unless absolutely necessary. The most cinematic victories are silent ones: a radio smashed just in time, a codebook seized, a suspect taken away without a sound as engines drown out the struggle.

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Resolution: After the Ramps Fall Silent

By dawn, Beacon Quay is empty.

The ramps are slick with seawater and oil. The bay is dotted with the fading silhouettes of landing craft heading south. Torquay exhales, unaware of how close it may have come to disaster.

The PCs are left with the weight of uncertainty. They may never know if their actions truly mattered—or if the invasion would have succeeded regardless. News from Normandy will be slow, fragmented, and grim.

But history will record that the landings happened.

And if the PCs succeeded, no one will ever know why Beacon Quay remained secure.

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Themes and Tone

This scenario emphasizes:

• Secrecy over heroics • Tension over combat • Ordinary places carrying extraordinary weight • The moral cost of security in wartime 

It is a story about how wars are won not only on beaches, but in harbors, offices, boarding houses, and darkened quays—by people whose names never appear in after-action reports.

“When the Bomb Fell in Daylight”

A GURPS WWII Scenario Set in St Marychurch, Torquay

Introduction: War in the Middle of the Day

Unlike the iconic image of the Blitz—bombs falling beneath moonlight and blackout curtains—the bombing of St Marychurch Parish Church occurred in daylight, when the village was awake, active, and filled with civilians going about ordinary business. This fact lends the event its particular horror. There was no siren-filled night, no long minutes to reach shelters. Instead, war arrived suddenly, brutally, and without warning.

Children were outside. Adults were at work or running errands. The church itself, like many substantial buildings, had become a place of refuge and daily activity rather than formal worship alone. When the bomb fell, it struck not an empty monument, but a living community.

This scenario places the player characters at the moment when routine fractures into chaos—and when survival depends not on weapons, but on courage, strength, and the willingness to crawl into broken stone to reach the trapped.

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Historical Background: The Bombing of St Marychurch Parish Church

During the war, Torquay was bombed intermittently, often as part of daytime raids or jettisoned loads from aircraft returning from attacks on more heavily defended targets such as Plymouth, Exeter, or the Bristol Channel ports. These raids were brief, violent, and disorienting.

On the day of the St Marychurch bombing, a German aircraft released its bombs over the area. One struck the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, causing major structural damage. Children and adults were caught in the blast, some thrown to the ground, others buried beneath falling masonry. Rescue efforts were immediate and desperate, carried out by local civilians, wardens, and emergency workers—often before official help could arrive.

Nearby stood Our Lady Help of Christians and St Denis, the Catholic church which narrowly escaped destruction. Its survival, amid the devastation, became a lasting local memory.

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The Scenario Opening: A Normal Day Shattered

It is late morning or early afternoon. The sky is clear enough for aircraft to be heard—but not expected. There is no blackout, no enforced silence. Shops are open. Children are playing or being walked home. Some are near the churchyard; others are inside buildings nearby.

The PCs are in St Marychurch for ordinary reasons:

• On patrol or duty as ARP wardens • Delivering messages or supplies • Accompanying evacuee children • Working nearby • Attending church-related business 

Then the sound arrives: aircraft engines, fast and low.

There is barely time to look up.

The explosion is deafening.

Stone, dust, and shattered glass erupt outward from the Parish Church. The shockwave knocks people off their feet. Screams follow almost immediately—high, terrified cries cutting through the settling dust.

The church has been hit.

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Immediate Aftermath: Children in the Rubble

When the dust begins to clear, the full scale of the disaster becomes visible.

Part of the church has collapsed. Walls have fallen inward. Beams, masonry, and roofing tiles lie scattered across the interior and spilling into the surrounding area. Fires threaten to start where debris has struck nearby buildings.

Most urgently:

• Children are trapped, some pinned beneath stone, others buried in dust-filled voids • Adults are injured, calling out, or dangerously silent • Some victims are visible; others can only be heard 

This is the core of the scenario: rescue under pressure, with limited tools, rising panic, and the constant fear that more aircraft may return.

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Key Locations

St Mary the Virgin Parish Church (Bomb Site)

Now a partially collapsed ruin. Dust clouds reduce visibility. The structure is unstable.

Hazards include:

• Falling masonry • Crushed limbs • Fires beginning in wooden fittings • The real possibility of further collapse if rubble is disturbed carelessly 

Inside are:

• Children trapped beneath pews or stone • Adults shielding them or unconscious nearby • A bell rope hanging uselessly in the dust-filled air 

Our Lady Help of Christians and St Denis (Near Miss)

Standing intact but shaken. Windows shattered, plaster cracked.

The church may become:

• A temporary shelter • A first aid point • A place where frightened children are gathered and counted 

The contrast between destruction and survival is stark and emotionally powerful.

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NPCs (Adjusted for the Event)

Mrs. Ellen Harper

Local Mother, early 30s

Her child is missing—last seen near the Parish Church. She is frantic, alternately pleading and attempting to run into unsafe rubble.

GURPS Notes: Low Self-Control under stress, Will rolls to avoid panic, strong motivation for PCs to act quickly.

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Alfred “Alf” Turner

Church Caretaker, late 50s

Pulled from the rubble with broken ribs, but insists there are children still inside. Knows the layout of the church intimately.

GURPS Notes: Pain, Duty (Protect Children), valuable source of information.

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Sister Margaret

Catholic Nun, early 40s

From the nearby Catholic church. Calm, composed, organizing injured civilians and comforting children brought from the wreckage.

GURPS Notes: High Will, First Aid, Leadership, Empathy.

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ARP Warden Edith Clarke (Revised)

Now actively coordinating civilians, forming bucket chains, and directing PCs to dig where cries are heard.

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Gameplay Focus: Digging, Decisions, and Desperation

This scenario revolves around:

• Listening for voices • Clearing rubble safely • Choosing who to reach first • Keeping panicked adults from endangering rescues • Comforting injured children while extracting them 

Time matters. Every failed roll costs minutes. Dust causes coughing fits. Strength tests exhaust rescuers. Medical decisions must be made with minimal supplies.

Success is measured not in enemies defeated, but in lives pulled free.

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Cinematic and Emotional Moments

• A child’s hand emerging from beneath stone. • Silence where a voice was heard moments before. • A rescued child asking quietly, “Where’s my mum?” • The nearby Catholic church doors thrown open to shelter survivors. • Church bells remaining un-rung—not from damage, but from respect. 

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Conclusion: After the Dust Settles

When order finally returns, St Marychurch will look different. The Parish Church will stand broken. The village will count its injured and dead. Children will be carried home wrapped in blankets meant for altar cloths.

The PCs will remember the weight of stone in their hands and the sound of breathing beneath rubble.

Historically, this bombing became one of Torquay’s most painful wartime memories—not because of its strategic value, but because it struck people in the middle of the day, when they least expected war to find them.

In GURPS terms, the outcome grants:

• Reputation (Local Heroes or Witnesses) • Psychological disadvantages (Nightmares, Guilt, Sense of Responsibility) • Lasting NPC relationships, especially with families of the rescued—or the lost 

Made this table for a cheat sheet I'm working on for personal use. Curious if anyone knows of other rules that allow changing from one posture to another during combat that isn't covered here.

Operation: English Riviera

Torquay, Devon – 1942–1944

“The war came quietly to Torquay. First with uniforms, then with ration cards, then with the constant pressure of waiting for something terrible to happen.”

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Historical Frame (True Events Backbone)

From 1942 onward, Torquay—along with much of South Devon—became a key staging and training area for American forces preparing for operations in North Africa and later D-Day. U.S. Army and Air Force units were billeted in:

• Hotels along the seafront (commandeered under emergency powers) • Private homes and boarding houses • Temporary camps on Dartmoor and the surrounding countryside 

The town was under blackout, coastal defenses were strengthened, and rumors of invasion—both German and Allied—hung in the air.

This is not a battlefield campaign.

This is a pressure-cooker town.

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Tone & Style

• Cinematic realism: low gunfire, high tension • Social friction instead of constant combat • Moral ambiguity, exhaustion, small victories • War seen through daily compromises and quiet heroism 

Think:

Band of Brothers meets The Third Man, but with teacups, ration books, and the Channel looming in the fog.

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Campaign Premise

The PCs are a mixed group—British and American—stationed or living in Torquay over an extended period (months or years). They are not elite commandos (at first). They are:

• Quartermasters • Military police • Intelligence adjutants • Home Guard officers • Local police, ARP wardens, nurses, dock workers • Civilians drawn unwillingly into military necessity 

The story is about living together under strain, not just fighting Germans.

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The Central Conflict

Torquay is too important to fail—but also too small to absorb the strain placed upon it.

Pressures include:

Civilian Struggles

• Severe rationing (especially meat, fuel, and sugar) • Loss of homes and livelihoods to billeting orders • Rising resentment toward well-paid, well-fed Americans • Fear of bombing, invasion, and spies • Moral exhaustion from “keeping a stiff upper lip” 

Military Pressures

• Cultural clashes (discipline vs. informality) • Security paranoia: leaks could doom future operations • Overcrowded facilities and overstretched command • Soldiers isolated from combat, itching for action • Fear that mistakes in training will mean death later 

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Key Factions

British Civil Authorities

• Local council struggling to maintain order • Police caught between military law and civilian outrage • Home Guard units made up of old men, veterans, and boys 

British Military

• Coastal defense units • Intelligence officers monitoring ports and communications • RAF personnel rotating through nearby airfields 

U.S. Forces

• Infantry and logistics units in training • Military Police tasked with keeping order • Intelligence detachments quietly vetting locals and allies alike 

The Unseen Enemy

• German Abwehr agents (rare but feared) • Black market profiteers • Opportunists exploiting chaos • Rumors—often more dangerous than truth 

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Campaign Arcs & Scenarios

1. “Rooms with a View”

The PCs are assigned to oversee billeting in a seafront hotel now shared by:

• Elderly English residents • American NCOs • A British signals detachment 

Tensions escalate:

• Theft accusations • A drunken fight turns political • Someone is passing information they shouldn’t 

The real question: is it espionage, or desperation?

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1. “The Blackout Incident”

During a coastal blackout:

• A light appears on the cliffs • An American patrol fires by mistake • A civilian is injured—or worse 

The PCs must:

• Contain the fallout • Prevent press leaks • Decide who takes the blame 

This may shape Anglo-American relations for the rest of the campaign.

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1. “Yanks with Money”

American soldiers are paid better and have access to goods civilians can’t get.

Results:

• Rising black market • British soldiers quietly resentful • Civilians tempted to collaborate 

The PCs uncover a supply theft ring that leads uncomfortably close to someone they trust.

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1. “The Exercise”

A massive night training exercise simulating a coastal landing goes wrong.

• Live ammo is mixed in by error • A Home Guard unit isn’t informed • Real casualties occur 

The PCs must manage chaos without alerting the enemy—and without destroying local morale.

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1. “Waiting for the Day” (1944)

As D-Day approaches:

• Security tightens brutally • Soldiers disappear overnight • Civilians sense something is coming 

The PCs deal with:

• Arresting innocent people “just in case” • Preventing panic • Saying goodbye without explanation 

The climax is not a battle—

It’s watching ships leave, knowing many won’t return.

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GURPS Notes (Light & Flexible)

• Emphasize Psychological Stress, Duty, Sense of Responsibility • Use Reaction Rolls heavily for social tension • Treat violence as dangerous, fast, and consequential • Reward restraint, empathy, and hard choices—not body counts 

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Themes to Lean Into

• War as endurance, not glory • Allies who need each other but don’t always like each other • Civilians carrying as much weight as soldiers • The quiet cost of being a “safe” town in wartime