So I was reading this article on io9 and got to thinking this would make an interesting subject for RPPR forums.
http://io9.com/5481380/your-military-science-fiction-isnt-really-military-science-fiction (http://io9.com/5481380/your-military-science-fiction-isnt-really-military-science-fiction)
Has anyone been in or run a game with a war going on? Was it believeable? What aspects of the game made the war feel more or less believeable? Any other thoughts?
-Scott
So I was reading this article on io9 and got to thinking this would make an interesting subject for RPPR forums.
http://io9.com/5481380/your-military-science-fiction-isnt-really-military-science-fiction (http://io9.com/5481380/your-military-science-fiction-isnt-really-military-science-fiction)
Has anyone been in or run a game with a war going on? Was it believeable? What aspects of the game made the war feel more or less believeable? Any other thoughts?
-Scott
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.Giant or Regular sized robots?
The new New World campaign that hasn't started will focus on war and revolution. A few years back, Ross ran an epic game that featured a war as its subtext. All the players were epic level commanders that had their own armies and were having to join forces to fight off an invasion.
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
hmmm
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
hmmm
it's true you know it
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
The new New World campaign that hasn't started will focus on war and revolution. A few years back, Ross ran an epic game that featured a war as its subtext. All the players were epic level commanders that had their own armies and were having to join forces to fight off an invasion.
Could you give more details about it? What system was it in? Did it feature large tables full of mini's to represent the battles? Did you have to mod the rules to make the battles work? What type of events (roleplaying or just back story) led up to the war? What type of narative or characters in game made it a believealbe war setting?
-Scott
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
That's a goddamned dirty lie.
All of my RPG battles have been retreads of the Battle of the Five Armies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Five_Armies#Battle_of_Five_Armies).
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
That's a goddamned dirty lie.
All of my RPG battles have been retreads of the Battle of the Five Armies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Five_Armies#Battle_of_Five_Armies).
trap sprung
LOTR is WW2
I think the best way to find out about how to add warfare in an RPG would be to contribute to a new ransom for a campaign setting about war in a fantasy environment.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rosspayton/codex-of-war-a-new-world-4e-dandd-campaign-setting
I think the best way to find out about how to add warfare in an RPG would be to contribute to a new ransom for a campaign setting about war in a fantasy environment.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rosspayton/codex-of-war-a-new-world-4e-dandd-campaign-setting
Interforum advertising ftw!!
The reason military sci-fi is basically retreads of WW2 with sci-fi dressing is because military sci-fi fans have huge boners for WW2 and will never get sick of re-reading the battle of the bulge but with robots.
That's a goddamned dirty lie.
All of my RPG battles have been retreads of the Battle of the Five Armies.
trap sprung
LOTR is WW2
The Hard Boiled Armies supplement over at RPGNow was pretty helpful for giving some ideas on running wars in D&D. It's pretty obvious, but had some good hints. I used it in our New World campaign for one of the battles and with some tweaking think it could be pretty cool. It's mostly about some flavor text and modifying a few of the mechanics. I'll probably use it again to have some tactical battles on a larger scale. Hopefully it goes smoothly next time.
As a tangent, the newest episode of The Bear Swarm! Podcast (http://www.bearswarm.com/episode-98-mass-combat) is about mass combat. It's mostly them brandishing huge chubbies for Legend of the 5 Rings' mass combat system, but there's still some interesting bits.
And there is Reign, the One Roll Engine game where you play national leaders. I haven't gotten that book yet (though I will) but I imagine one has to deal with army level combat in that setting.
As a tangent, the newest episode of The Bear Swarm! Podcast (http://www.bearswarm.com/episode-98-mass-combat) is about mass combat. It's mostly them brandishing huge chubbies for Legend of the 5 Rings' mass combat system, but there's still some interesting bits.
So what exactly are you looking for with war? There's mechanically expressing battle and tactics in a game system and then there's replicating the emotional and mental state of the civilization currently involved in a war. The two methods of play are very different, though they can be used together.
if you try to emphasis everything than you're actually emphasizing nothing.
well I remember reading somewhere that a common tactic in ancient warfare was for the generals of each army to seek out each other during a battle. The idea being that the quicker you kill the enemy general, the quicker the enemy army collapses.
Also, armies were led from the frontline most of the time. At the very least, you had to be on the battlefield to lead an army. So high level battles would be duels with opposing leaders or trying to kill as many troops as possible to demoralize the enemy.
I'd been operating under the idea that his players would be in the World War era of technology using guns and possibly motorized devices.
In short, Reign is amazing and the best fantasy rpg to tackle shit like that