Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Pfr_Fate]

With no disrespect intended, I always had trouble with the Chase Rules used for ship combat. So, I went off and did a small set of rules up for Slipstream Rocket Ships. Weighs in at six pages, including customizing rocketships in the Stream and a few graphics. It is meant to not be much like a miniatures vehicle game - more of a way to role-play while your rocket is in battle.
Currently in MSWord form, becuase I don't know if all the bugs a out, yet. When they are, I'll send it over to Savage HEroes and the Explorer's Society.

So....PM with an email address if you'd like a copy to play out and tell me what i screwed up on!
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[Pfr_Fate]

30 veiws...2 takers.

OK: some advertising, then.

When in game, two or more ships decide to mix it up, you pull out a little Radiophone display (provided). It has some very basic areas set out in such a way that provides some tactical decisions on movement without resorting to turning keys and inches.

Initiative cards are dealt and upon a ship's turn it has to make some tactical decisions like full speed, full attack, defense, use the nose gun, escape, and so on. Each is like giving a character an 'Action' with mutiple action penalties. When that is done, the Tactics are each rolled for to see if you succeed - each has a crew position that will roll for them (or a generic Crew Rating, if no Wild Card in that position)...the MAP applies to all these rolls.

Success with a Tactic usually adds a favorable comabt advantage, like +2 Toughness, +2 Defense, +2 to hit, Move 2+ areas, Escape and so on.

Now, you can fire your weapons if they are manned (and if the Nose Gun was selected as a Tactic - you have to aim the thing!). This is not a Tactic - a ship can always move one area and fire...Tactics provide benefits.

To hit and damages was steamlined a bit, but it pretty much is the same, except there is no Out of Control - a crew gets Shaken (knocked about).

So, pretty much the action is centered upon the crew's skills and the Tactics chosen and less on the miniature in an attempt to not break the Role-playing feel and keep all players involved and in game.

A turn would go as such:
GM: There's two Pirates on the Radiophone display. Put yourself in the center and the Pirates on the Outer Ring either side."
Deals cards - the player's ship is first.
Captain and players discuss:
Let's run for it!
It'll be tough...they got us boxed in and they are fast.
Well, then take one at a time, then.
can we fight a pirate in this boat?
We can...but my thinking is full attack or duck and weave until we can Escape.
Let's nail the first one...if it doesn't work, then we run.
Nose Gun....blast them with the Nose Gun.
Alright....Our ship moves to that one pirate, closing range, and we point the Nose at him and fire everything. One action?

GM: yep: no penalty. Pilot roll to line up the shot.
Pilot: blast...failed!
GM: use your swivel guns.
Gunners one and two: A hit...each!
Roll damage...the Pirate takes a Wound and loses some engine speed. That'll help if you decide to run!

Now their turn!




That's a broad description, anyway.
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[Thasmodious]

If that's the sales pitch, you can consider this a customer testimonial.

I took Pfr Fate's Red Alert rules for Star Trek combat (I believe these Slipstream rules are built off the basics from that?) and tweaked them for my Firefly setting (with his help) and had the chance to use them in game just last night. It played very well. The player's loved it, kept the game focused on the characters and the ships. The available tactical maneuvers play well against one another. It's a solid system. Easy to use, abstracted, little bookkeeping, interesting effects.
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There's more than seventy earths spinning 'bout the galaxy and the meek have inherited not a one.

[GreenTongue]

[Pfr_Fate]

[Pfr_Fate]

just to show the lack of complexity with setting up a battle, here's a pic of the Radiophone Monitor with a few minis from another game....it mirrors the starting situation in the example above:




-Mike
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[Pfr_Fate]

Another thought....those pesky asteroid fields, dust fields and ice fields.

One could lay them out by thickness...
Sparse: any Spades drawn in Initiative troubles the Pilot
Dense: any Spades or Clubs in Initiative troubles the Pilot

Troubles =
If the pilot roll comes up as a '1 or less' on any Tactic rolls, then the ship takes 2d10 damage from an asteroid - 2d6 from ice or '-1' Move from Radiation or Dust messing with the engines (this can be repaired as a Critical Hit). Of course, a pilot can avoid the troubles by not selecting any Pilot Tactics: he is really concentrating on avoiding the troubles.

One could also just block off some areas with this stuff and leave others empty.
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[Pfr_Fate]

As for some of the inspiration on this set, I used this clip from Buck Rogers and the Planet Outlaws (1939) from Youtube. The action starts at roughly the 2 mintue mark (2:00), with Buck, Wilma and sidekick trying to run a blockade by sending out a remote ship to draw off attackers then making a run for it....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwpXMnZnvY4


...and in this (painful) clip produced for the world fair in 1935, the idea of using the Radiophone Monitor as the 'battlemap' for Rocket Ranger! rules came from Dr. Huer, himself!!! At about 4:20 on the Youtube clip, Huer monitors the battle on his "Cosmic Radio Television" device. Painful early stuff. But here's to those that broke ground!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz1AHjN27xU

...and at 4:53 or so, Killer kane and the traitors are gathered around their own Radiophone Monitor to watch the battle!

-Have fun! Mike
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[GreenTongue]

Real mood setters. Good finds.
=

[Froggy the Great]

I will hopefully be giving this a test run with my group in a couple weeks.\
I really like what I see, but it could use a lot of polish.

[Pfr_Fate]

[Pfr_Fate]

Reviews are coming in...I updated the first set based on that and sent them back out, but they are being tested this weekend.

We'll see how that goes!

Zoom zoom
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[Vinzent]

Actually it looks like a cool idea. I take it that the PCs ship is always in the center of the radiophone and that combat is relative to them?

Questions: What happens if the PCs have more than one ship? What if some of them deploy in Rocket Sleds?

[FoxBlue]

I'd say if there are more than one ship, have the center be for the ship with the most PCs on it as that is the point of view they would see the battle from.

[Pfr_Fate]

Oddly enough...the Radiophone idea was a way to simplify movement into brouad ranges (like the Chase Rules) but to account (somewhat) for ultiple locations of multiple combatants. The inspiration was an old 1930s World Fair movie of Buck Rogers, wherein the Weird Science doctor watches the Earth battle the Tiger Men led by Killer Kane and the traitor Ardarla.

So, no. The Center Circle of the display is in the original 'center' of the battle. Like a GoogleMap is centered upon a location - not like a GPS centered on your car.
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[jasales]

Pfr_Fate
I couldn't get the pm to work. jim at ravenoaks dot org if you don't mind. I'd like to test this out.

[Spence]

I would PM you, but I just don't have the free time to do any testing. Sounds really cool though.

[Pfr_Fate]

I think I got a mediafile hosting to work....if so, you can all find the current version of Slipstream Rocket Ranger at:

http://www.mediafire.com/?yzznomnkdfj

There are some typos in this one (nothing dangerous, I suspect), but the intent was to get more than just MY opinion on it. (Hey: I like everything I do, unitl I don't). After whatever critiques and fixes occur, I'll fix it up into a better PDf (may use original art)....


-Mike
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.

[Seeker of Truth]

Overall I definitely like what I see. The main reason I never liked using the Chase rules for this sort of thing was that seemed TOO abstract. But this feels like starship (or rocketship) combat without busting out the rulers and whatnot. And if you were to come up with different looks for the radiophone display, it would work beautifully for other scifi settings. Something slightly organiz for the crew of a Leviathan in a Farscape game, somewhat cobbled together and not too high-tech for Firefly/Serenity, and so on.
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Epic of the Arrows - A Saga of the Untamed Lands

[Pfr_Fate]

I had intended to do such, but wanted to get any core problems shaken out before the bells and whistles...That Radiophone is a little simple. i want buttons and switches!
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The eternal struggle takes time, Max.