The Air Corps

Well, here's a brief (yeah right) review of the "good guys" in the campaign.

Your typical alliance of dwarves, elves, and men doesn't leave much room for variation, eh? Well, originally, I'd wanted to focus on the air corp, which is based loosely on what little I know of the Amry Air Corps/Air Force during World War II, with some D&D variations and some of my own modernization, cause I'm the DM and it's a fantasy setting. The idea has expanded a bit from there, but we'll start with the air corps.

There are three basic wings of air soldiers, subdivided into the various mounts they fly on. There's the fighter pilots, focusing on the aerial dog-fighting. These guys tend to fly on beefy mounts, where lots of armor, carry lances, and be very cocky. After all, the occasional pegasus soldier will have to face down a dragon general cause he's the only poor shmuck left alive.

The bomber corps tends to be magic casters of some sort, although pretty much any skills that let the flyer focus on ground support are utilized. It's nothing unusual to see a couple of light weight gnomes on a griffon dropping greek fire all over the place. These guys tend to be less focused and more down to earth than the fighter squadrons, cause they tend to find themselves in predicaments where brashness gets ya killed.

Finally, combat wise, there's the combat search & rescue corp. These guys are usually pretty crazy. Got an infantry unit caught behind enemy lines? These guys go in after them, maybe escorting a transport. Got a spy that needs recovered? Here they come.

There's also your typical transport units and an aerial MASH unit or two.

Primarily, the Air Corps is male. Female aren't excluded, but it's definitely a "good ole boys club", and most of the females tend to operate in transport or MASH. With the high attrition rate the front lines see, and especially the Air Corps, women are a bit too valuable for these poistions. At least, that's the way THIS society sees it.

Tech wise, all pilots are equipped with a ring of feather falling for those tricky dismounts, and squadron member wear special headgear with limited telepathy for radio-like communication amongst units. Nothing long-range, although special missions may include a communication specialist armed with the appropriate spells or magic items.

Aside from the Air Corps, just think of good guys universally for political/social attitudes and what not.

Some other interesting points. There are a few "floating castles" the alliance maintains for forward troop deployment, and teleportation is key to the armies' successes. Forward scouts and front line troops generally carry the equipment necessary for an advanced magic user to teleport in, set up a quick but stable portal, and start bringing in reinforcements. Of course, the bad guys do the same.

Another interesting note is that a few bards are being selectively "imbedded" in a few of the military groups in hopes of bringing a sense of the troops heroics back to the pubs and inns of the workers supporting the war effort.

That's all I can think of right now, and I gotta get some work done. Next time I think I'll write up the state of the bad boys. Of course, that may not be necessary, since the response I've gotten is looking like it's gonna be Nick, Wendy and I playing, and they both know most of this shit already.