Call of Duty/Counter-Strike RPG?

[Jedaii]

Thinking about running something very "tactical, team-oriented, first-person shooter" where a group of players are special operatives called in to take down active terrorists. Maybe globally? Just spitballing a game concept here so I'm definitely open to ideas.

Not sure of the exact system. Maybe Ninjas & Superspies or White Lies. Something with a strong inventory of modern weapons and equipment. Figuring the team would work for U.S. DOD or maybe the UN, if they're global. Regardless of command structure they'd be that unit deployed when the situation is too much for regular law enforcement but too small for large-scale military operations. Like Dutch's team from Predator, without the predator, but the opposition would be dangerous organized terrorists.

Something "West Marches"-like where different players can jump in and out in-between missions? Definitely 100% combat action with zero pre-mission investigation: the unit gets their intel from "command" and formulate tactics anywhere from a day to an hour prior to deployment?

Trying to work out all the details. Anyone possibly interested and if so, thoughts?

[Bobcloclimar]

GURPS Tactical Shooting, of course :)

 

There are many systems (and homebrews) out there that could make this work, with varying levels of crunchiness along a couple axes. For example, some systems might have e.g. the individual make of weapon or exact bullet caliber have a mechanical impact, while others might emphasize the tactical considerations of fire and maneuver (such as cover, LoS, suppression, morale etc), and some have extremely detailed damage/wounding mechanics. My personal priority is for the tactical maneuvering elements over gear minutiae.

 

Here are a couple other systems off the top of my head that might simulate the tactical feel to an FPS or TBS:

• FFG’s Only War (probably my first recommendation based on community familiarity and level of crunch)
• Shadowrun (4e definitely would work, I don’t have any experience with the other editions to comment on suitability)
• BRP (Delta Green?)

Since you mentioned negligible mechanical bits outside of combat, you could also look at miniatures systems for combat and freeform the RP - I like Infinity’s emphasis on objective-based missions and reactive actions, for example, although it’d need a bit more granularity in the damage model. GW’s old Inquisitor system straddles the line between RPG and a minis game, and has a good level of crunch for this type of game as well.

Edited August 22, 2023 by Bobcloclimar (see edit history)

[Jedaii]

10 hours ago, Bobcloclimar said:

GURPS Tactical Shooting, of course :)

 

There are many systems (and homebrews) out there that could make this work, with varying levels of crunchiness along a couple axes. For example, some systems might have e.g. the individual make of weapon or exact bullet caliber have a mechanical impact, while others might emphasize the tactical considerations of fire and maneuver (such as cover, LoS, suppression, morale etc), and some have extremely detailed damage/wounding mechanics. My personal priority is for the tactical maneuvering elements over gear minutiae.

 

Here are a couple other systems off the top of my head that might simulate the tactical feel to an FPS or TBS:

• FFG’s Only War (probably my first recommendation based on community familiarity and level of crunch)
• Shadowrun (4e definitely would work, I don’t have any experience with the other editions to comment on suitability)
• BRP (Delta Green?)

Since you mentioned negligible mechanical bits outside of combat, you could also look at miniatures systems for combat and freeform the RP - I like Infinity’s emphasis on objective-based missions and reactive actions, for example, although it’d need a bit more granularity in the damage model. GW’s old Inquisitor system straddles the line between RPG and a minis game, and has a good level of crunch for this type of game as well.

Ah GURPS 🙄 My ex-favorite system.

I was looking over HERO's Dark Champions: the weapon locker is impressive plus the system covers all the bases. I considered SR but I hate the combat system. Delta Green is better suited for investigations, ime. Still going through my library, on top of browsing DTRPG for potential systems.

I'm with you on tactical maneuvering - it's crucial and and fun (when they work). Actually, like CoD/CS how the PC organize their movement might be the most important element here ...

[Bobcloclimar]

Have you looked at the fanmade 100DOS/Mythic system? It started at a Halo mod of Only War, and kind of evolved into its own thing, including a modern spinoff called The Armory (which has a very large database of modern weapons, which are algorithmically statted in a massive Google Docs spreadsheet).

Edited August 25, 2023 by Bobcloclimar (see edit history)

[Jedaii]

On 8/24/2023 at 7:42 PM, Bobcloclimar said:

Have you looked at the fanmade 100DOS/Mythic system? It started at a Halo mod of Only War, and kind of evolved into its own thing, including a modern spinoff called The Armory (which has a very large database of modern weapons, which are algorithmically statted in a massive Google Docs spreadsheet).

I'll check it out. Reading over Cities Without Number right now as it might be perfect.

[TheDude2371]

On 8/24/2023 at 7:42 PM, Bobcloclimar said:

Have you looked at the fanmade 100DOS/Mythic system? It started at a Halo mod of Only War, and kind of evolved into its own thing, including a modern spinoff called The Armory (which has a very large database of modern weapons, which are algorithmically statted in a massive Google Docs spreadsheet).

I've just downloaded the files. Interested, but I'm rather keen to see when The Armory comes out.

[TheDude2371]

I'd second GURPS for a crunchy and very deadly system. Great for decent detail as well.

Right now, I've been reviewing all of my material for Millennium's End, a game I loved to run back in the 90s. Timeline needs an update but the system is stellar, especially the ranged combat -- silhouettes of your target's physical positioning, and you put an overlay over that posture image, with the center point on where you're aiming. The other points on the overlay denote a spot where the attack lands based on how much you either miss or make by (overlay depends on range). You could be aiming for center mass, but end up hitting the knee, the head, or missing altogether.

BRP/CoC/Delta Green isn't bad, either, though I think it needs to be "plussed up" a little. I had been thinking on using the overlays from ME as described above, as they're both percentile-based.

 

[Jedaii]

30 minutes ago, TheDude2371 said:

I'd second GURPS for a crunchy and very deadly system. Great for decent detail as well.

Right now, I've been reviewing all of my material for Millennium's End, a game I loved to run back in the 90s. Timeline needs an update but the system is stellar, especially the ranged combat -- silhouettes of your target's physical positioning, and you put an overlay over that posture image, with the center point on where you're aiming. The other points on the overlay denote a spot where the attack lands based on how much you either miss or make by (overlay depends on range). You could be aiming for center mass, but end up hitting the knee, the head, or missing altogether.

BRP/CoC/Delta Green isn't bad, either, though I think it needs to be "plussed up" a little. I had been thinking on using the overlays from ME as described above, as they're both percentile-based.

 

Great insights, thanks! I know GURPS so it's a strong option.

[Blue Firebird]

On 8/23/2023 at 3:23 AM, Jedaii said:

I'm with you on tactical maneuvering - it's crucial and and fun (when they work). Actually, like CoD/CS how the PC organize their movement might be the most important element here ...

There are some map-making programs that might be worth looking into, as well. Lots of fun things there, and stuff like Roll20 could help, or you could try playing with layers on an image suite program?

[TheDude2371]

GURPS is definitely a strong option, and I've toyed with it for my own SpecOps game. Thing is, going and converting the original Special Ops book from G3e was becoming a bit of a pain, especially when there are a few more units to add in (DEVGRU, MARSOC, TF160, CIA-SAC, Pararescue, etc.) The option at that point was to emulate it with the Action splatbooks, and determine what the required/optional packages were.

As I said, pain.

However... in going through all my ME material from over the years, I have plenty to work with here... Military, Federal/State/Local law enforcement, foreign entities, other three-letter acronym agencies... weaponry... sure, I'll need to update, but I don't think it'll be as much of a pain as a lot of the work is straightforward.

I'd love to work with ME again... that was such a fun game. Might have to consider a more modern run set out of the Miami office of Blackeagle/Blackeagle.

 

[Bobcloclimar]

On 8/30/2023 at 8:22 AM, TheDude2371 said:

I've just downloaded the files. Interested, but I'm rather keen to see when The Armory comes out.

Did you grab the spreadsheet from the Discord channel? AFAIK, that's more or less all that's needed for The Armory (since the rules are otherwise shared with core Mythic). Do note that it appears to have stats for all the shared systems, and its organization leaves a lot to be desired.

 

If you'd rather not deal with the Discord, here's the direct Google Docs link.

 

@JedaiiI've been looking at CWN too. It could work straight out of the box if the GM is strict about LOS and cover, but I think it could use a fair bit of extra houseruled combat actions (e.g. suppressing with semi-auto, blindfiring, etc. - although ranged Swarm attacks may cover for many of those) to make it tactically crunchy.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Bobcloclimar (see edit history)

[Jedaii]

2 hours ago, Bobcloclimar said:

Did you grab the spreadsheet from the Discord channel? AFAIK, that's more or less all that's needed for The Armory (since the rules are otherwise shared with core Mythic). Do note that it appears to have stats for all the shared systems, and its organization leaves a lot to be desired.

 

If you'd rather not deal with the Discord, here's the direct Google Docs link.

 

@JedaiiI've been looking at CWN too. It could work straight out of the box if the GM is strict about LOS and cover, but I think it could use a fair bit of extra houseruled combat actions (e.g. suppressing with semi-auto, blindfiring, etc. - although ranged Swarm attacks may cover for many of those) to make it tactically crunchy.

Was thinking the same about crunching up the combat, but still reading it over.

On 8/30/2023 at 2:30 PM, Blue Firebird said:

There are some map-making programs that might be worth looking into, as well. Lots of fun things there, and stuff like Roll20 could help, or you could try playing with layers on an image suite program?

Layers is an interesting option. Normally I use Roll20 but if there's something better I'm open.

18 hours ago, TheDude2371 said:

GURPS is definitely a strong option, and I've toyed with it for my own SpecOps game. Thing is, going and converting the original Special Ops book from G3e was becoming a bit of a pain, especially when there are a few more units to add in (DEVGRU, MARSOC, TF160, CIA-SAC, Pararescue, etc.) The option at that point was to emulate it with the Action splatbooks, and determine what the required/optional packages were.

As I said, pain.

However... in going through all my ME material from over the years, I have plenty to work with here... Military, Federal/State/Local law enforcement, foreign entities, other three-letter acronym agencies... weaponry... sure, I'll need to update, but I don't think it'll be as much of a pain as a lot of the work is straightforward.

I'd love to work with ME again... that was such a fun game. Might have to consider a more modern run set out of the Miami office of Blackeagle/Blackeagle.

 

GURPS Tactical Shooting as @Bobcloclimar mentioned would be perfect for what I'm envisioning. And, it definitely fits GURPS (Special Ops?) better than CWN. GURPS Action 4: Specialists could also get jammed in. Still doing my research but great ideas here from everyone.

[RedMax]

I'm getting interested in this!

Regarding the Layers thing, I use an image editing program and use layers for combat maps.

A huge shortcut is to look at maps first and build your scenario around what you find. Like, you pull up a nice hex map of a warehouse and a nice hex map of an Old West town and a nice hex map of an airport. Pull the three together narratively in your notes and then start the shenanigans. I used to play it that I'd get the heroes to a paper mill and then spend hours trying to find a paper mill map. I realized that's the goofy way 'round! :P

[RedMax]

On 8/22/2023 at 5:50 AM, Jedaii said:

Like Dutch's team from Predator, without the predator, but the opposition would be dangerous organized terrorists.

 

Note that the guy who wrote the screenplay said he used Sgt. Rock as an inspiration. I thought this might help.

[TheDude2371]

19 hours ago, Jedaii said:

Was thinking the same about crunching up the combat, but still reading it over.

Layers is an interesting option. Normally I use Roll20 but if there's something better I'm open.

GURPS Tactical Shooting as @Bobcloclimar mentioned would be perfect for what I'm envisioning. And, it definitely fits GURPS (Special Ops?) better than CWN. GURPS Action 4: Specialists could also get jammed in. Still doing my research but great ideas here from everyone.

 

Basically thinking the same thing, with figuring out which packages are required for each branch, and which are considered optional.