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N O. 5

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A s s a
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 Credits
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 Contents

Assault on the
Führer Train

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Introduction: All Aboard!.............................. 4
Act One: Approach........................................ 8
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Scene 1: A Visitor From Berlin..........................8

Scene 2: A Walk in the Forest......................... 11
Scene 3: Checkpoint Christian........................ 12
Scene 4: Arming up........................................... 14
Scene 5: A Leap of Faith.................................. 14
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Act Two: Assault on the Führer Train........16

Scene 1: All Aboard........................................... 16
Scene 2: Guard Quarters.................................. 18
Scene 3: Kitchen Compartment ................... 20
Scene 4: Communications Carriage............. 22
Scene 5: Guest Quarters................................. 25
Scene 6: The War Room ................................ 27
Scene 7: Führer’s Private Apartments ........ 29
Appendix A: Adversaries & Antagonists... 32
Appendix B: Handouts................................ 39
Appendix C: Pregenerated Characters....42
 Introduction
Introduction  All Aboard!

All Aboard!

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Welcome!
WHAT IS ACHTUNG! CTHULHU? WHAT IS THE 2D20 SYSTEM?

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Achtung! Cthulhu is a setting for Lovecraftian roleplaying During your game, your actions and their consequences
during World War II, which allows players to discover affect the storyline uniquely. The instant a villain pulls
the truth behind the malign influence of the Mythos on the trigger, what happens when your hero tries to dive
the Nazi war machine and beyond, as conflict engulfs the for cover behind the nearest sofa? Does the hail of
globe during 1939-1945. bullets hit them full on taking them down or do they
narrowly miss, spraying the nearby wall instead? When
In this pulp-influenced world of brave Allied heroes and a character is in jeopardy and the outcome is in doubt,
dauntless two-fisted adventure, players will take on the it’s the dice that decide.
roles of Allied servicemen and women, secret agents,

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members of the resistance or even hapless civilians
caught up in the wider conflict. All stand firm against
the twisted might of the Nazi occult: the Cult of the
Black Sun, who wield foul magic and summon captive
horrors in their bid unleash Yog-Sothoth and Nachtwölfe,
The player pulls out a pair of twenty-sided die and rolls
them to see what happens. A twelve and a fifteen means
the hero will feel those slugs penetrating his flesh, his
body twitching under the impact. If they rolled a three
and a ten; the bullets might be stopped by the sofa’s metal
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their nominal allies and rivals who place their trust in frame or whistle by his cheek, failing to find their prey.
Atlantean technology, weird science and strange wonder
weapons to prevail. Roleplaying games use rules in order to shape or resolve
the drama of a story. Achtung! Cthulhu utilizes the 2d20
Players will experience a world where dread secrets System (2d20 shorthand for “two twenty-sided dice”). The
and powerful artefacts lie forgotten in ancient ruins, dice reign where the gamemaster does not, dictating if the
abandoned sites and forgotten cities, and peer deep into shooter hits their mark, and the fallout and consequences
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dusty tomes and manuscripts seeking to understand of what follows.

eldritch knowledge that was never meant for the sight
of mortals. They’ll arm themselves with experimental The 2d20 system also has some unique characteristics
technology and deadly weapons and learn to wield which aren’t present in other roleplaying games. Rules
powerful magical spells or harness potent psychic powers for Stress let you know how much physical and mental
to fight against this uncanny threat. punishment your character can take. Rules for Momentum
allow your character to push home any advantage, using
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They’ll also encounter exotic native races like the that successful dive into cover to come up all guns blazing,
Deep Ones, undersea worshippers of the dreaming god or make their escape through a handily discovered back
Cthulhu, or the strange Mi-Go, fungoid-insectoid beings door. The gamemaster can use Threat to make a Nazi
from the furthest corners of the solar system who have patrol materialise out of the ether, suddenly blocking the
come to Earth for an unknown purpose. Towering over hero’s escape route and sparking a further encounter (an
them all are the monsters, entities and gods of the event that is invoked as a Complication).
Mythos themselves, who seek to take advantage of the
chaos of the second world war to extend their dominion All of these rules and mechanics, help set the scenes, add
over the minds of men. suspense, and shape the thrilling storylines that characters
from the Achtung! Cthulhu universe experience during
Will your heroes prevail against all odds, or will they, like their daring escapades.
so many others before, fall to the malign influence of the
Mythos? That is your story to tell…

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 Introduction  All Aboard!
The 2d20 System is also here to lend a helping hand to In Achtung! Cthulhu’s Secret War, the Battle of the
players taking their first steps on that road, as they create Bulge (as history will know it), also contains a top-secret
a unique hero or heroine to fight in the Secret War. component. In a quiet sector of the Ardennes, concealed
Focuses, personal truths, talents and other mechanical within the ancient ruins of an Elder Thing under
values come together to flesh out each character’s city, a brilliant Nazi scientist, Franz Amsel, has been
personality — while skills and attributes define their preparing a secret factory. There he has manufactured
virtues, as well as their weaknesses. The 2d20 System does vast quantities of experimental shoggoth tanks and a
all of this in an easy-to-learn, quick-to-play manner and new breed of battlefield shock trooper, the shoggoth
throughout this book, you’ll find plenty of examples to shocksoldat. Amsel, codenamed the Blackbird, has drawn
help walk you through the mechanics in engaging ways. on both Black Sun and Nachtwölfe resources, temporarily
Buckle up, pack your trustiest revolver and prepare for uniting the bitter rivals, and intends to launch Operation

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action, it’s going to be some ride! Brute Strength, an armoured assault within the main
offensive which will send the US troops in the Southern

OVERVIEW sector reeling.

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This adventure forms the prologue to the Forest of Fear With secrecy paramount and the date of Watch on the
Campaign book, the first major campaign for Modiphius’ Rhine rapidly approaching, devious Black Sun commander
Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 system and is designed to give ‘Sweet’ Liesel Böhm has decided to disrupt local resistance
players and GMs an introduction to the main storyline. forces by laying a trap to capture resistance leader Marta
It features some of the characters and villains who will Archambaud.
go on to become major agents, as well as introducing
information, background, and themes that will be the Unbeknownst to Archambaud, her bother Phillipe
focus of the main campaign. It can also be played as a was captured and conditioned by Black Sun sorcery,
simple standalone one-off adventure for those who wish and carefully doctored intelligence has been put in
to recreate the actions of brave resistance fighters who his possession. This suggests a very important person,

that liberated Nazi-occupied Europe.

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played an important role in assisting the Allied invasion

The raid takes place in early November 1944. After the

triumph of D-Day in June 1944, the Allies have made slow
possibly even the Führer himself, will be arriving on
an armoured train to inspect a top-secret facility in
the forest. Böhm knows this information will prove
irresistible to Archambaud, who will see a chance to
strike off the head of the Nazi snake and possibly end the
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but steady progress across Europe and are now closing war at a single stroke.
in on the borders of fortress Germany. With the Russians
pushing from the east, and the Americans and British With only a few hours before the Führersonderzug—
from the west, the stranglehold on Germany is tightening. the Führer train—is set to arrive, the resistance has
Desperate, Hitler conceives a great counter offensive little time to prepare. Little do they know, they are
against the western Allies. Operation Watch on the Rhine on a suicide mission and what awaits them inside the
aims to split the Allied forces and drive them back towards armoured train is not glory, but capture and quite
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the deep water port of Antwerp, leaving the beleaguered possibly a hideous death.
Germans free to turn and face the might of the Red Army.

Running Führer Train as a Standalone Adventure

The raid on the Führer Express is not really intended as adapt or alter the adventure for your own campaign,
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a standard adventure, instead it is written as an action- the main work will be adjusting the scene in the final
orientated thrill ride to whet players’ appetites for the carriage at (p30) the finale, where you might consider
main Forest of Fear campaign, as well as introducing introducing one of your own Nemesis level adversaries
them to some of the themes and key players within it. It who have baited a carefully laid trap to ensnare your
a bit of a Kobayashi Maru scenario and is not intended existing agents. How they escape and what they
to be winnable as such, but instead to provide an do from there on in, we leave to your own fiendish
aperitif for the main RPG campaign to come, ending devising, but never underestimate your players, they
with the resistance heroes being captured with their will find a way!
hopes in tatters.
To learn more about the overall Forest of Fear
However, with a little ingenuity and creativity it could campaign, including the development of the Elder
readily be adapted or improvised to slot into an City, the Crimson Monks and the Slumbering Horror
existing campaign, by removing the resistance agents Chartotharkis which underpin it, download the FREE
and changing the location, and some of the plots and Secret War Operations PDF where the entire historical
intelligence the players will discover. If you want to storyline is detailed from Modiphius.net!

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 COMBAT: AGENTS HISTORICAL NOTES —
Introduction  All Aboard!

AND ENCOUNTERS THE REAL STEEL BEHEMOTH

Rather than strictly define exactly what enemy forces This scenario is in part based on the real Führersonderzug,
are deployed where, the compositions supplied here are Hitler’s personal armoured train. This steel beast and its
recommendations: a single light encounter in the forest to ilk transported the Führer and the Nazi High Command
warm your players up, plus a skeleton crew left aboard the around Europe during the early years of the war (many
train by ‘Sweet’ Liesel as bait for your agents to put to the senior Nazis seen the Führersonderzug demanded their
sword, as they are drawn ever deeper into her trap. As the own armoured train and it became something of a status
GM, you can feed in additional units and reinforcements symbol among the Nazi elite).
like those in the Adversaries section on p32 as you see fit,

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tuning as the adventure as you go along. Naturally, many adaptations have been made to make
this playable as a game scenario, with a lot of the action
This more free-form setup is deliberate: some groups will compressed into a smaller space to make for a more
enjoy stealthily sneaking their way on board, silently playable adventure. The real Führersonderzug which
dispatching guards, exploring the luxurious surroundings was named America (and later Brandenburg after the

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and strange technology while searching for clues and US entered the war) was a monstrous 16-carriage steel
marshalling their resources for a decisive strike upon the behemoth with a staff of over 200, a hefty garrison and
Führer himself. This will be especially true for lightly multiple AA guns, making it far too challenging a target
armed resistance groups made up of the pre-generated for assault by even the most determined and heavily
agents provided on p38. armed resistance cell.

Other, more experienced groups, might enjoy a more As a result, while the real Führersonderzug served as an
gung-ho, confrontational approach, blasting their way inspiration for this adventure, much has been simplified or
through, as waves of stronger and stronger enemies are amplified to make it work as a gaming setting: there are
fewer carriages, not so many staff and Nachtwölfe and the

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hurled against them, in a succession of lethal firefights and
deadly seat-of-your-pants encounters.

Most groups will probably enjoy something in between

these extremes and this approach allows you as the GM
Black Sun have combined their technical and sorcerous
might to create a nightmare railway engine and its train of
carriages which little resemble the real historical example
(something we can all be thankful for).
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a degree of flexibility. If your players are particularly
cautious or have been particularly hard hit, dial down Most of all, it’s meant to be fun for everyone, players
the combat and maybe even consider giving them and GM alike (a wise aim to keep in mind in any form
additional resistance members as NPC agents to act as of gaming). If your players know anything about the
reinforcements. If they love nothing better than going second world war, they’ll know that no such raid ever
toe-to-toe with the elite Black Sun and Nachtwölfe forces, existed (although the Allies had vague plans for one with
arm them up, pull the pin and let them have it! Operation Foxley) and that Hitler wasn’t assassinated
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on an armoured train, but died in the ruins of Berlin in

April 1945. From the off this mission may be doomed, but
my earnest hope is that you and they have a great time
Skill Tests & Difficulty playing it nonetheless.

The skill tests and difficulty tests combinations are

— John Houlihan
suggestions only and not set in stone. Adjust the
November 2021
combinations and difficulty according to developing
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events, circumstances, personal preferences and your

best judgment.

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 Introduction  All Aboard!
Gamemaster’s Briefing
It is 6am on the 13th of November 1944 and the The Nazi forces of the occult have also made an
adventure opens at the abandoned Dubois farmhouse, appearance. Black Sun Troopers and their sinister
two miles outside the village of Arduette in the Ardennes. commanders have been spotted. There have been
This is a well-known resistance meeting point, away from reports of strange unwholesome creatures stalking the
the prying eyes of the Nazis, informers and other, less forest. Strange technology powered by eerie blue lights
savoury characters who inhabit the woodland. has also been observed amongst the facilities patrolled
by Nachtwölfe, the Night Wolves.
The resistance, led by Marta Archambaud, are

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meeting at this secluded rendezvous to discuss recent Now there are dawn raids on different villages, suspected
developments in the local situation. Gathered around resistance members and even ordinary villagers have
the table are several local resistance members, smoking been spirited away, never to be seen again. In the last
cigarettes, drinking pastis, all grumbling about the usual month or so these activities have reached fever pitch, but
subjects. What are the Germans up to? When will the the lightly armed resistance are ill equipped to launch a

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Allies liberate them? Who has the best ice wine this year? major offensive to discover more. Clearly something is up
Why are all the other resistance groups so hopeless? as the Allies close in, but what? And what should they do
about it?
It is a familiar refrain, the resistance love nothing more
than a good gripe before the meeting is called to order. Suddenly the door opens and in bursts Phillipe
Marta, codenamed Adestra, is lucky to be here at all. Archambaud, Marta’s younger brother, with an
She has narrowly avoided capture and assassination apologetic sentry trailing close behind him. Marta
for the third time in as many months, after the new Nazi gasps and rushes to embrace her sibling, who has been
commander ‘Sweet’ Liesel Böhm put a significant bounty missing for a week and was presumed taken in one of
on her head.

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Although the forest, which borders France, Belgium, and
Germany, was part of a key offensive in World War I, ever
since the German armies rolled across Europe in 1939-
the recent raids.

Although Marta and the other resistance members

don’t know it, Phillipe has been broken and turned by
a combination of Black Sun sorcery and Norn mind
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1940 it has become a sleepy, forgotten sector. Away from manipulation. He has become an unwitting catspaw,
the garrisons in the main towns, the only notable activity programmed to lure Marta and her fellow resistance
has been from German archaeological expeditions who members into a trap prepared by the Nazi commander.
have been investigating ancient sites within the forest
“related to their glorious Aryan heritage”. Largely these The Nazi’s aim is that Marta won’t be able to interfere
have been confined to long forgotten ancient ruins, of with the upcoming Operation Brute Strength, a secret
little interest to the locals, and they have been content to offensive within the main Ardennes battle plan to
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let these expeditions proceed undisturbed. unleash shoggoth tanks, shoggoth shocksoldat, and
a wave of other captive horrors during Operation
However, ever since the Nazis completed a subterranean Watch on the Rhine, the last great German counter
train line leading to the Chateau du Gisoire, about a offensive which will result in the forthcoming Battle of
year ago, Nazi activity in the forest has stepped up the Bulge.
considerably. Armoured columns sweep through the
forest roads at all hours, and there are reports of forced For the moment though, Philippe, unaware that he is
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labourers being shipped to a secret facility somewhere being used, is excited and enthusiastic. Not only by his
near the Chateau. Since D-Day, conventional German daring escape, but at the vital intelligence he believes
activity in the forest has increased exponentially. The he has discovered that represents a major opportunity
German forces in the area have been kicked out of for them to strike a significant blow against their hated
their sleepy complacency by Böhm: pressure has Nazi oppressors. This will allow him to fulfil his long-
been exerted, patrols stepped up, security around the held dream to become a resistance hero, by raiding an
archaeological sites tightened and it’s been difficult to get armoured train and killing the Führer himself!
anywhere near German installations.