Landspeeders and 'Smashup Speeder' Event

DougRed4

Inspired very much by shootingwomprats and lurker, and what swr did for their game, I've decided to do a demolition derby-type event for my game.

I've been working on it over the last few days, and I've prepped a number of vehicles (they're all going to be landspeeders, forcing the players to stay close to the ground).

I'm also going to make it a bit like a podrace, with different terrains so characters can use various tactics.

I even did a bit of research on the Boonta Eve Classic (the podrace from E1), to figure out about how big of an area/map I should make. I couldn't find the info online anywhere, so I took a detailed map that's been made for the race (which you can Google or find on Wookieepedia) with a small scale key.

I carefully examined things, and it looks like that event was approximately 30 kilometers in length (about 18.37 miles). I went ahead and input that into Wookieedia as well.

I wasn't sure how to get my players to actually engage in this event, so what I'm leaning towards doing is making the trophy for the winner (in addition to 50,000 credits) have a Force Crystal of some kind in it (that the Jedi both sense).
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

DougRed4 · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 12:28 am Post subject:

I just realized something cool. I was trying to figure out how to make a huge map (like the Boonta Eve Classic), so I wanted each 'space' (whether I use hexes or squares) to represent a decent-sized area. I first thought I'd make each one 50 meters, but upon looking at my fastest vehicle so far (the Ultra-Light Assault Vehicle), it has a Move of 140 (400 kph). Once I worked out the math, I found that it could go about 45 spaces per round (at All-Out).

So I doubled the size of each space, and now each one will represent 100 meters. So my fastest vehicle (at All-Out) can only go about 22.5 spaces per round.

The cool part I realized was how to convert Move scores to spaces on my map. Multiplying a vehicle (or character, or ship)'s Move score by 4 gives how many Meters per Round it can go. So a nice, easy number to multiply by! Then on each character sheet (for each different vehicle) I can post something like:

Speeds:
Cautious: Move 40 / 160 meters / 1.6 spaces
Cruising: Move 80 / 320 meters / 3.2 spaces
High: Move 160 / 640 meters / 6.4 spaces
All-Out: Move 320 / 1,280 meters / 12.8 spaces

So if that's the vehicle that the PCs buy or rent (or bet on), it will be really simple to see how many squares it will go on my map.

[I like doing stuff like this because it takes all the math and calculations out of the equation at the table]
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

garhkal · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 1:24 am Post subject:

Are you going to be having say 3-4 different types of vehicles.. Say one that is slow, low maneuverability but compensates by having a high body rating. One fast and maneuverable but low body, and one middle of the road.?

What of damage to the occupants should they crash?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

DougRed4 · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 1:44 am Post subject:

I'm going to have variety very similar to what you've suggested. So far I have 4-5 vehicles detailed, but I'd like to get a few more done before we play on Friday night.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

DougRed4 · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 2:28 am Post subject:

DougRed4 · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 4:35 pm Post subject:

I have a question, based on the Terrain Difficulties from p. 108 (R&E).

Based on the fact that - in a city environment - shots fired can end up making things tricky while piloting a vehicle (here's the entry for Very Difficult, with the part I'm mentioning underlined):

Very Difficult: 21-30. Driving through a city during an earthquake or fierce battle, as stray shots land all around your vehicle, buildings topple in front of you, or the highway you're driving on begins to collapse. Repulsorlift flight under similar circumstances.

Wouldn't it make sense to increase the difficulty of other terrains, if there's a loit of blaster fire? I'm considering upping the category by one (so Very Easy becomes Easy, Easy becomes Moderate, etc.) if a vehicle is under "heavy fire". If things go as planned, there will be a few 'firefights' between various vehicles in the race/derby I'm having.

What do the rest of you think?
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

garhkal · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 5:49 pm Post subject:

What would count though as 'heavy fire'? 8 men shooting? 18 men?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

DougRed4 · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:45 pm Post subject:

That would just be a GM call; in my mind if you're being shot at by more than a single weapon/vehicle it would probably qualify.

Not sure that will even happen. But I want to try to be ready for my players to purchase the fastest speeder, race out in front of everyone else, and try to outrace them all so they are never shot. To emphasize the 'demolition derby' portion as much as the race, if they do that, I will have one or two (or more) vehicles hang back and find good cover, then try to eliminate them when they come around and lap everyone.

I've made up a list of vehicles for them to purchase, should they choose to do so. There are five combat models to choose from, with various strengths and weaknesses and prices. A few of the speeders seem a bit better to me than others (the ULAV being probably the best), so it will be interesting to see which one they choose.

Perhaps later on I'll turn the document into a PDF and post it here.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

garhkal · Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 3:27 pm Post subject:

Perhaps those vehicles which are the faster, lack the higher maneuverability the other vehicles possess. And with their lightness needed to get so fast, their body is not going to be that impressive, so those slip ups and maneuvering failures are going to hurt more!
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

DougRed4 · Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 4:08 am Post subject:

I gave the players the following sheet to pick a vehicle from:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28952597/Landspeeders%20for%20Sale.pdf

Then they totally surprised me by bringing in the Imperial Hovertank (that they'd commandeered on a previous mission). They ended up taking a 'rabbit and the hare' approach, by buying the Ultra-Light Assault Vehicle and using it as their fast vehicle, with their hovertank (which they convinced the authorities to allow them to enter) as the slower one.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

DougRed4 · Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 4:14 am Post subject:

Pictures and some description of the action over on the Death of Liberty Campaign page.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

garhkal · Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 3:09 pm Post subject:

DougRed4 · Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 4:58 pm Post subject:

Well, a number of things to clarify.

1) They bribed the official

2) They scuffed and marked it up, making it belching smoke and looking like it was going to fall apart; they also marked it up enough that it would be extremely difficult for anyone to know that it was ever an Imperial vehicle

3) The restrictions for the race were for no airspeeders. It wasn't the biggest vehicle in the contest; that title went to a WLO-5 Ubrikkian Speeder Tank (which the hoverscout was only 75% as big as).

With all of the above taken into consideration, and the only thing disqualifying it being that it is technically a hovercraft (thereby using the skill of Hover Vehicle Operation rather than Repulsorlift Operation), I decided to allow it in.

Note that now - in retrospect - I wish I'd have thought that they might choose to use it. I would have looked it over better, most likely, and might have discovered that it was another thing WEG screwed up on. They have the hoverscout listed as "Speeder scale", but it should really probably be Walker Scale.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

garhkal · Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 5:15 pm Post subject:

DougRed4 · Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 5:52 pm Post subject:

None whatsover. He described (probably more elaborately than he needed to) that he wanted it to look like some massive hunk of junk that barely runs. He's a decent enough mechanic that it seemed reasonable. Plus they have a pretty decent sized group of people to help (including NPCs) and they had an entire day before the race to get ready.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

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