An article on the Mirror website back from February reveals a brilliant game seed for Call of Cthulhu – the Red Baron was apparently out and about shooting down UFOs over the trenches. Dubious veracity aside, this is interesting stuff:

He supposedly spotted an UFO that looked like an upside down silver saucer with orange lights during an early morning mission in the clear blue skies above Belgium in the spring of 1917.

Fellow German Air Force ace Peter Waitzrick, who reportedly witnessed the dogfight, said: “We were terrified because we’d never seen anything like it before. The Baron immediately opened fire and the thing went down like a rock, shearing off tree limbs as it crashed into the woods.”

Two occupants allegedly survived the crash and clambered from the wreck before running into the trees.

The mind expands at the potential gaming. The Red Baron is already a super interesting character – I’ve always enjoyed his portrayal in Kim Newman’s The Bloody Red Baron, although I’m sure there are a great deal many more historically accurate adaptations than casting the Baron as a giant monstrous vampire bat.

Some gaming ideas from this story:

Aerial Mi-Go Combat Mini Game

Whether or not your players are going to be flying Fokkers, Vickers, or riding on a zeppelin, come up with a clever way to game – Call of Cthulhu is not a game that generally features aerial combat, so it could be a nice change of pace for your players. See the climax of the live action The Whisperer in Darkness for more inspiration.

Frenzied Hunt through the Woods

In the mood for a little paranoiac role playing? Your players could play German soldier tasked with collecting the escapees from the Baron’s kills… this could go a few different ways. Action oriented stealth adventure or perhaps, a Thing esque “is the Baron an alien” type scenario?

Let me know what you’d do with this as a starting point.