System Recomendation: Mass Space Combat - OG Myth-Weavers

Notices


GM Workshop

A community-created and maintained place for Game Masters of all systems to bounce ideas around. It's a place for inspiration and sharing tips.


System Recomendation: Mass Space Combat

   
System Recomendation: Mass Space Combat

I am thinking about making a game where the players would be in charge of going from star system to star system dealing with enemy fleets and mining resources as they built up an armada to retake their home planet.

The thing is I don't know of any good systems that would handle fleet to fleet actions. I've been thinking of writing my own ruleset but that would be a lot of work. Altenratively I was thinking of abstracting combat and focusing on interpersonal relationships within the fleet/exploration of the systems is the source of gaming tension. But I am sure that a lot of the people interested in this sort of game would also be interested in the actual fleet combat.

So does anyone have suggestions of good system for this sort of thing?

I would recommend Fate. Zoom out to the Fleet level, give each a couple of Aspects like System Fleet or Scrap-Iron Flotilla, or if you want them to be more badass something like the Red Scope Fleet or Admiral Zan's Battlefleet. Then aspects like Fighter Screen or Capital Ship Batteries to call out specific strengths and weaknesses. PCs can make Strategy rolls to give Boosts or Command rolls to make effective attacks. An especially large space force might have Scale that gives it bonus stress and Armor.

1) Gurps has a mass combat supplement, i remember using it twice, once as a test and another in a game with the players taking roles of commanders or larger than life heroes on the battlefield, it wouldnt be too hard to put it in space (as long as you fight in 2d, maybe add a captain kirk bonus for those thinking in 3d )

In my test i tried to replicate the Battle of Thermopylae, with smaller number just to not go crazy , something like 300 vs 100000, and it kind of worked, those 300 lasted a really long time and went down only due to attrition.

In the game the player commander loved it, but the non commanders lamented a lack of options, being only able to do a limited number of things.

it's easier than normal gurps combat, it support logistic, cost to hire and maintain troops (both those can be ignored) divide casualties in real (aka dead) and just ko (recovered after the fight) has option for a several types of units: land, recon, naval, aerial, infiltration, heavy, ecc which have bonuses or penalties against others (cavalry >infantry but pikeman counter cavalry ecc.)

The problem is that you need the supplement as it has specific rules not found in the basic set(note: it has nothing to do with gurps spaceships, it's a lot simpler and meant for large scale battles).

There is some math to be done both before and during the fight(mostly before, to calculate the force strength of your army, but in a campaign you also want to track casualties) but it's light on the players.


2) Star wars saga has rules for space combat, they respect the movies but are not game friendly (almost everything is a glass cannon, most starfighters go down in 2 hits from another starfighter) but if you you are ok with a lethal game(or houserule it a bit to help the players) it can be done.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raveled View Post
I would recommend Fate. Zoom out to the Fleet level, give each a couple of Aspects like System Fleet or Scrap-Iron Flotilla, or if you want them to be more badass something like the Red Scope Fleet or Admiral Zan's Battlefleet. Then aspects like Fighter Screen or Capital Ship Batteries to call out specific strengths and weaknesses. PCs can make Strategy rolls to give Boosts or Command rolls to make effective attacks. An especially large space force might have Scale that gives it bonus stress and Armor.
I had thought of Fate as a more character focused system, but I can see how that would work. And I've been meaning to try Fate anyway.

I've never played it before though and after reading the rulebook it seems to involve the players a lot in the game setup. So how well does that translate to the PbP format. Does it work better to start off with just a light setting and let everyone input, or should I write more background like I would for a more traditional game.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudra View Post
1) Gurps has a mass combat supplement, i remember using it twice, once as a test and another in a game with the players taking roles of commanders or larger than life heroes on the battlefield, it wouldnt be too hard to put it in space (as long as you fight in 2d, maybe add a captain kirk bonus for those thinking in 3d )

In my test i tried to replicate the Battle of Thermopylae, with smaller number just to not go crazy , something like 300 vs 100000, and it kind of worked, those 300 lasted a really long time and went down only due to attrition.

In the game the player commander loved it, but the non commanders lamented a lack of options, being only able to do a limited number of things.

it's easier than normal gurps combat, it support logistic, cost to hire and maintain troops (both those can be ignored) divide casualties in real (aka dead) and just ko (recovered after the fight) has option for a several types of units: land, recon, naval, aerial, infiltration, heavy, ecc which have bonuses or penalties against others (cavalry >infantry but pikeman counter cavalry ecc.)

The problem is that you need the supplement as it has specific rules not found in the basic set(note: it has nothing to do with gurps spaceships, it's a lot simpler and meant for large scale battles).

There is some math to be done both before and during the fight(mostly before, to calculate the force strength of your army, but in a campaign you also want to track casualties) but it's light on the players.


2) Star wars saga has rules for space combat, they respect the movies but are not game friendly (almost everything is a glass cannon, most starfighters go down in 2 hits from another starfighter) but if you you are ok with a lethal game(or houserule it a bit to help the players) it can be done.
I wasn't too impressed the last time I looked at the GURPS mass combat supplement, though it's been a while so I'd have to look at it again. In any case I think GURPS as a whole is too granular for what I want out of this setting. It really focuses on character actions when I want a more organizational level of play. Of course there are supplements for that too, but they aren't well known from I've seen.

Still I am really familiar with GURPS. When this gets a bit further along I may make a poll to see which system gets more interest.

As for Star Wars, well the movies don't really reflect what I want in the setting, and if the mechanics are faithful to them like you're saying then I'd probably have to do quite a bit of homebrew to make them work. It depends on how capital ships are handled I guess. Plus I've never played Star Wars saga. It seems weird to learn a new ruleset and then immediately homebrew them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ArcaneStomper View Post
I had thought of Fate as a more character focused system, but I can see how that would work. And I've been meaning to try Fate anyway.

I've never played it before though and after reading the rulebook it seems to involve the players a lot in the game setup. So how well does that translate to the PbP format. Does it work better to start off with just a light setting and let everyone input, or should I write more background like I would for a more traditional game.
Setting-writing for Fate could be a thread all to its own. Given your style tends to be detail-heavy, I'd go with the second school of thought; plan out as much as you want but be willing to insert a character's own storyline where it fits. An example: I was in a game where I was playing an ex-farm boy turned bandit and sneak-thief. His life changed when his family was abducted by slavers and he had to go live in the city. Now he wanted to hunt the slavers down and exact his revenge. The game started with the PCs smuggling something for the local crime boss. Our point of contact with that organization was an affable, handsome pirate. A couple of sessions in, he got seriously wounded and my PC was appointed to watch over him. During that time, my PC figured out this really nice guy had been part of the slavers who stole his family away.

Like that. Build the first couple of sessions of play and leave yourself enough room to interweave the details of a character's backstory. Then let the players engage and see where it goes. (For the record: I saved the pirate, tracked him to his favorite tavern, and burned it down while he was inside.)





Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Last Database Backup 2024-03-19 11:45:23am local time
Myth-Weavers Status