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Theodrim
Lieutenant
Joined: 18 May 2014
Posts: 78
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 Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:28 pm Post subject: Narrating SWD6 dogfights, thoughts and a question |
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In my current campaign, I'm a history buff and so are three of my players so for their (and my) enjoyment, I've been playing up Star Wars dogfighting being based off WWII (and WWII films). I've had my players flying their freighter(s) in box formation, had them turn fighting and weaving, but there's one thing I have yet to touch for which I'm not entirely certain how to handle...
That being, energy fighting. The existence of repulsors and particle shielding in the Star Wars universe, fighting in vacuum, and often outside of gravity wells make this one a tough nut to crack.
GM's and players "kind of" get booming and zooming in the form of trench running, but that one's more geometry than physics as the entire point is to close fast enough to get "under" firing arcs, fire, and escape along a trajectory on which the pilot won't get shot. Then, there's "energy fighting" in the form of managing a ship's/fighter's power reserves to engines, shields, and guns a la the TIE Fighter/X-Wing games, but SWD6 mechanics don't really support that.
That puts a good kibosh on how I was planning on incorporating it -- the usual suspect Rebel starfighters are better energy fighters than their Imperial counterparts, while the Imps make better turn fighters (US vs. Japan in WWII), and energy fighting was possible by putting strain on Imperial fighters' repulsors and particle shielding to keep up. All else fails I can still rely on that explanation in-game -- since this is a matter of narrating fights rather than crunching them (it works out to the same dice roll anyway), but it just feels weak to me.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject? |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14214
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 3:29 am Post subject: |
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On the power re-routing, sparks came up with rules to emulate what we see in the Tie fighter/x-wing games...
| Quote: | 14.) Power Control Rerouting: This optional rule from The Far Orbit Project sourcebook page 25 is available for use in the Sparks campaign. This rule allows a ship to transfer power from one onboard system to another. The power is in raw form, and has no benefit to computer systems, like the navigational computer or targeting systems. It could boost communications range or active sensor scans. The rule allows power to be pulled from one system (damage of a weapon) and transferred to another system like shields. Systems can only be raised by +1D for starfighter scale ships, and +2D for capital scale ships. To make this transfer a player character must roll the appropriate Repair (Starfighter, Space Transports, Capital) skill. The transfer has a base difficulty set by the number of systems being pulled from and/or transferred to. The time taken roll is the amount over the base difficulty.
Affected Systems Difficulty
Single system to Single recipient Moderate (15)
Multiple systems to Single recipient Difficult (20)
Multiple systems to Multiple recipients Very Difficult (25)
Time Taken – roll exceeds base difficulty by:
Roll Time Taken
1-5 2D rounds
6-10 1D rounds
11-15 2 rounds
16-20 1 round
21+ 1 second |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:48 am Post subject: |
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I discussed some ideas in this topic. Let me know if you see anything you like.
As far as power re-routing, I use what I call Discretionary Power. All ships get 1D of extra power that they can distribute to whatever they like, but it must be declared.
As far as basic rules for missiles, I've got a house rule variant that I like, but a simple solution is to just give missiles and torpedoes higher fire control and ranges comparable to energy weapons. That way, you can treat them as a limited-ammunition "silver bullet" type weapon that you reserve for the really important targets.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 2460
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:04 am Post subject: |
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| I ported over the Auxiliary Power rules from Star Warriors. Basically, it's a bank of power that get's used up boosting other systems (by 1D or 2 SPACE), but once spent takes time to recharge. |
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Kytross
Line Captain
Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 782
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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Garhkal, I wouldn't make it a moderate roll. I'd probably make it an easy roll. There's so much going on in Starfighter combat that one more action per round would have a huge affect.
Each round my players can:
1) Maneuver
2) Shoot
3) Angle the deflector shields
4) Make a Comm roll to squelch the enemy
5) Sensors
6) Comm rolls to communicate with their team
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Theodrim
Lieutenant
Joined: 18 May 2014
Posts: 78
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| Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | I discussed some ideas in this topic. Let me know if you see anything you like. |
Honestly, rules aren't my concern, I like to keep things as simple, straightforward, fast and narrative-focused as I can at my table(s). I have seven players in my current group, and only three of us really quality as military/history buffs (enough to nerd the hell out at the notion of light freighters flying in box formation against a wing of TIE's), so the best-case scenario here is two players get frustrated by extra crunch while the other five get bored and frustrated with extra crunch and targeted exposition.
Plus, tacking on extra rules in the end makes characters who aren't fighter jocks or techies worse at what they're already deficient. I already strain NPC pooling to the breaking point to keep all my players active and engaged during scenes where their PC's aren't "in focus", so to speak, since my style as a GM is to have more extended, detailed scenes rather than shorter, vignette-type scenes. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14214
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 4:07 am Post subject: |
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| Kytross wrote: | Garhkal, I wouldn't make it a moderate roll. I'd probably make it an easy roll. There's so much going on in Starfighter combat that one more action per round would have a huge affect.
Each round my players can:
1) Maneuver
2) Shoot
3) Angle the deflector shields
4) Make a Comm roll to squelch the enemy
5) Sensors
6) Comm rolls to communicate with their team
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Its the rule our group uses. Not mine.
But since most of our combat is players on ONE ship (freighter) you have pilot 1 doing the maneuvering, the co pilot doing comms or shields, gunner(s) doing the shooting, someone else in the cockpit doing sensors and those in engineering doing the rerouting of power.
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 2460
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| Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Theodrim wrote: |
Honestly, rules aren't my concern, I like to keep things as simple, straightforward, fast and narrative-focused as I can at my table(s). |
Oh. Well in that case you can just simply it down to a "rock-Paper-Scissors" type of decision for the PCs. What you do is give the players three options that sound high tech, say Evade/Defend (Rock), Bear Down (Paper), and Circle (Scissors) and guessing the right choice grants the player a advantage (say adjust the difficulty level for the action).
it's not very complicated but can help give it the right feel. |
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